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THE QUEENS 



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American Society. 



BY MRS. ELLET, 

AUTHOR OF '"TUB WOMEN OF TUB AMERICAN REVOLUTION," "WOMEN ARTISTS," BTC. 






V 



rtP- 

NEW YORK: 
CHARLES SCRIBNER & COMPANY, 

6 54 BROADWAY. 
1867. 
V 



/0 b 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1S67, by 

CHARLES SCRIBNEE & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 

Southern District of New York. 



/z-w6f 



ALVOKD, PRINTER. 









PEEFAOE 



Some friends have objected, in advance, to the title of this 
volume, on the ground that the term "queens," as applied to the 
subjects, seems out of place in the society of a republic. But if 
we call to mind how continually and universally the expression is 
used in ordinary conversation, it must be conceded that no other 
would do as well. We are all accustomed to hear of any leading 
ady that she is "a perfect queen," the "queen of society," a 
"reigning belle," the "queen of the occasion," &c. The phrase is 
in every one's mouth, and no one is misled by it. The sway of 
Beauty and Fashion, too, is essentially royal; there is nothing re- 
publican about it. Every belle, every leader of the ton, is despotic 
in proportion to her power; and the quality of imperial authority is 
absolutely inseparable from her state. I maintain, therefore, that 
no title is so just and appropriate to the women illustrated in this 
work, as that of " queens." 

It may be thought that too much space has been given to per- 
sonal description and accounts of dress and entertainments. It 
should be borne in mind, that the subjects are the Flowers of the 
sex — choice and cultivated flowers — not representatives of woman- 
kind in general. To them especially and necessarily pertain the 
adornments of person and the luxury of surroundings; and in 
scenes of festal display they are the stars of attraction. To pre- 
sent them without the adjuncts and associations of dress and 
gayety would be fair neither to them nor the reader. There is 
significance, too, in the style of decoration and amusements, as 
well as that of daily living. The style prevalent in the early days 
of the republic differed widely from the present, as does that of the 
West and the South from ours in the metropolis and the Atlantic 
cities. 



11 PREFACE. 

In a country so extensive — embracing such diversities in cli- 
mate, habits of life, and tone of the community — it cannot certain- 
ly be expected that society should have always and everywhere the 
same prevailing features. The differences are marked in different 
sections ; and a social favorite in one might be regarded in another 
as entitled to no distinction. It will be obvious, therefore, how 
unfair it would be to measure by the same rules those who have 
been made unlike by diverse origin, customs, and training. There 
are points of similarity enough, if a broad and liberal view of other 
conditions be taken. 

I trust the candid reader will admit that the women most 
prominent in our society have had better than frivolous claims to 
distinction ; that they have possessed high moral worth and supe- 
rior intellect. Many of them have devoted their influence and 
efforts to works of charity. It is the blessing of New York— so 
justly reproached as the temple of money-worship— that her most 
elevated society is pervaded by a noble spirit of benevolence, and 
the refinement of taste growing out of mental culture. A line of 
distinction is drawn between the class that confers honor on the 
country, and mere shallow and vulgar pretenders whose lavish 
display of wealth is their only merit. Abundant materials for the 
illustration of this latter class were at hand, but they have not 
been used. 

It has seemed to me that a comprehensive view of the best 
society would be a valuable part of the country's history. It is 
curious and interesting to trace the noted families whose descend- 
ants have spread over the land, and, parting with the aristocracy 
derived from ancient blood, have risen to individual distinction. 
The limits of a single volume are too narrow to do full justice to 
the subject; but enough is done to show the study a worthy one. 

The reader is indebted for the memoir of Mrs. Jay, to the pen 
of her gifted descendant, Mi-. John Jay, of New York. 



CONTENTS. 



I. 

PAOB 

The Early Colonial Society — In the South and the East — Leading 
Ladies — Prominent Families — The Virginia School of Aristoc- 
racy — Mrs. "Washington — The Birthnight Ball — New York as the 
Capital — The President's Title — Reception of Mrs. Washington — 
The Inauguration — Establishment of the "Republican Court"- - 
Presidential Receptions — Count de Moustier's Ball, &c. — New- 
Year's Calls — Prominent Ladies — Charles Carroll's Family — Fam- 
ily of Thomas Jefferson — Noted Ladies 13 

II. 

The Livingston Family — Governor "William Livingston and his Daugh- 
ters — Miss Susan saving the Papers — Lady Stirling and her 
Daughter — Sarah's Marriage — Mrs. Jay during the gloomy Pe- 
riod of War — Sailing for Spain — Disasters at Sea — Correspond- 
ence — Letters of Mrs. Robert Morris, &c. — Description of Mrs. 
Jay — Society in Paris at the Period — Negotiation of American 
Commissioners for the Conclusion of Peace — Jay's Agency — 
Prevailing Fashions — La Fayette's Family — Intimacy with Dr. 
Franklin — Brilliant Circle of Celebrities around his Table — His 
Letters to Mrs. Jay — Mrs. Jay at Chaillot — Correspondence — 
Return to New York — Society there — Dinner Guests — Home 
Occupation — Mrs. Jay Managing the Estate — Her Character. ... 41 

III. 

The Early Aristocracy of New England — Customs — Brissot's Obser- 
vations — John Quincy Adams' Descriptions of several Belles — 
Mrs. Cashing — The Misses Allen — Mercy Warren — Mrs. Knox — 
The Sheaffe Ladies — Mrs. Adams — Her Sisters, &c. — Mrs. Smith 
— Her Letters on Society — John Quincy Adams' Opinion of 
New York Beauties — Madame de Marbois — Mrs. John Quincy 
Adams, &c 86 



CONTENTS. 



IV. 

PAGB 

The Qtiincy Family — Marriage of Dorothy to John Hancock — Mrs. 
Hancock's Patriotism — Her House in Boston — Style of Living — 
General Washington's Visit — The Breakfast to the French Fleet 
— Complimentary Dinner to Mrs. Hancock by the Admiral — 
Anecdotes — Plate in Use — Hancock's Epicurean Taste — Break- 
ing the China — Samuel Adams going to Jail — The Governor's 
Last" Hours — Mrs. Hancock's Attractions — Mrs. Greene — Mrs. 
Wooster — Countess Bumford 113 

v. 

Philadelphia Society in Early Times — The Willing Family — Philadel- 
phia the Center of Fashionable Gayety — Mrs. Bingham — Her 
Life abroad — Miss Adams' Letters about her — Her Home in 
Philadelphia — Her Country Seat — Brilliant Society — Mrs. Bing- 
ham's Taste in Dress and Entertainments — Her Beauty and Pleas- 
ing Manners — Jefferson's Letter to her — French Noblemen — The 
First Masquerade Ball — Judge Chase at Dinner — Illness and 
Departure of Mrs. Bingham — Mrs. Robert Morris 135 

VI. 

Foreign "Writers on American Society — Extravagance of the Women 
— The Wistar Parties — The Mischianza — Fete in Honor of the 
Dauphin — Miss Graeme — Mrs. Bacho — Miss Vining — Miss Mar- 
garet Shippen — Mrs. Arnold — Miss Franks — Lady Johnston's 
Interview with General Scott — Mrs. Stockton — Mrs. Rufus King 
— Mrs. Bruyn — Mrs. Schuyler — Mrs. Hamilton — Jerome Bona- 
parte's Marriage to Miss Patterson — Her after Life — Mrs. 
Wilson 149 

VII. 

The Van Cortlandt Family — Mrs. Beekman — "'Castle Philipse "— The 
Old Dutch Church — Locality of the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" 
— Region of Romance — Mrs. Gates — Mrs. Benjamin II. Field — 
Descended of Distinguished Families — The Do Peyster Family — 
Its remarkable Men — Mrs. Field one of few Americans — Marriage 
to Mr. Benjamin H. Field — His Ancestry — "Silver Wedding" — 
Poem by Bishop Coze, addressed to Mrs. Field 171 



CONTENTS. 



VIII. 

PAGE 

Early Society at the South — In Charleston, South Carolina — Promi- 
nent Belles — "Moll Harvey" — Paulina the Heiress — Mrs. Riv- 
ing'ton — Mrs. Singleton — "Whig- Ladies — Mrs. Brewton — "Mad 
Archy's " Marriage — A Brilliant Ball — Epigram — Mrs. Motte — 
Mrs. Gibbes — Mrs. Barnard Elliott — Mrs. "William Elliott — Mrs. 
Lewis Morris — Mrs. Jane Elliott — Anna Elliott — Mrs. Calhoun 
— Esther "Wake and Lady Tryon — Mrs. "Wilie Jones and Mrs. 
Ashe — Mrs. Ralph Izard — Princess Achille Marat (note) 181 

IX. 

Belles among the Pioneers of Tennessee — Miss Hart — Miss Bledsoe — 

- The Lady of "Plum Grove" — Mrs. Sevier — Miss Sevier — Tho 

Belle of Natchez — Mrs. Innis — Mrs. Combs — Mrs. Robertson — 

Mrs. Kenton — Mrs. Talbot — Miss St. Clair — Mrs. Sibley — Mrs. 

"Walworth — Mrs. Heald — Mrs. Kinzie — Mrs. Allen — Miss Trask. 195 

X. 

Memoir of Mrs. Polk — Early Marriage — Winters in Washington — 
Circles of distinguished Persons — Mrs. Polk's Dignity and Grace 
— Her Benevolence — Mr. Polk Governor of Tennessee — Elected 
President of the United States — Mrs. Polk's admirable Tact and 
noble Qualities — She will not liave Dancing — Mrs. Maury's Ac- 
count of her — Leaving the White House — HerJIome in Nashville 
— Testimony of Respect by the Legislature and Military Compa- 
nies — Mrs. Huntington of Indiana — Her Beauty and admirable 
Character — Mrs. "Florida White" — Mrs. Pleasants — The Daugh- 
ters of Governor Adair — Mrs. Jacob Brown — La Fayette's Letter 
to her — Mrs. Henry Clay — Mrs. Joshua Francis Fisher — Miss 
Sallie Ward— The Belle of the Southwest— Her Father— Mrs. 
Robert J. Ward — Early Training — Rare Gifts of the young Girl 
— Popular Admiration — Presentation of Flags to the Louisville 
Legion, &c. — The Greeting on their Return — Mrs. Johnston — A 
Fancy Ball Dress — Mrs. Hunt's Beauty and imperial Elegance — 
Taste in Dress — Mrs. Hunt's Charity — Her Elevation of Mind — 
Her splendid Home in New Orleans — A Masquerade Ball — 
Domestic Retirement 213 



V CONTENTS. 

XI. 

PAGE 

Memoir of Mrs. Madison — Her Family — Her Beauty and Fascinations 
— Her first Marriage and Widowhood — Her Marriage to Mr. Mad- 
ison — Hospitality at Home — The new National Capital re- 
claimed by Mrs. Madison — Her elegant and liberal Style of 
Entertainment — The Presidential Election — The Inauguration 
Festivities — Danger of the Capital in 1814 — Mrs. Madison's Let- 
ter — Her noble Conduct — Celebration of Peace — Mrs. Madison's 
Mountain Home — Letter from Judge Johnson — Montpelier — The 
aged Mother-in-law — Mrs. Madison's Letter — Her Return to 
Washington — Loss of Fortune — Her Last Days — Anecdotes — 
Eleanor Parke Custis — Mrs. Mary Custis — Mrs. Marshall — Mrs. 
Sitgreaves — Mrs. Wallace 238 

XII. 

Mrs. J. P. Van Ness — A distinguished Belle and Heiress — Her Mar- 
riage — Splendid House in Washington — Elegant Hospitality — 
Brilliant Circle — Her Personal Attractions — Her Piety and Char- 
ity — Marriage of her Daughter to Arthur Middleton — Death of 
Mrs. Middleton — Mrs. Van Ness's Retiremeat from Society — 
Founding of the Orphan Asylum — Her Burial with Public Honors 
— Mrs. Woodbury — Mrs. McLane — Miss Butt — Mrs. Edward Liv- 
ingston — Miss Cora Livingston — Mrs. Thomas Barton — Evening 
Scene at the White House — Mrs. Andrew Jackson — Pure Morals 
and Taste in Society 264 

XIII. 

Mrs. J. J. Roosevelt — Her Mother, Mrs. Cornelius P. Van Ness — The 
Governor's hospitable Home in Vermont — Residence in Madrid 
— Miss Cornelia Van Ness — A brilliant Belle in Washington — In 
Spain with the Ambassador — Her Admission to the exclusive 
Circles of the Spanish Grandees — Favor shown her by the Bang 
and Queen of Spain — Her Marriage in Paris — La Fayette bestows 
the Bride — Return to America — Letter of La Fayette — Mrs. 
Roosevelt helps to reform a Social Usage in Washington — Tri- 
butes in her Album — Her Correspondence with distinguished 
Persons — Her Leadership of Society in New York — Superinten- 
dence of the " Knickerbocker Kitchen," &c. — Lady Ouseley — Her 
Stay in Wasliingtou 281 



CONTENTS. 



XIV. 

PAGE 

Mrs. Winfield Scott — Scott's and Washington Irving's Tributes to 
William C. Preston of South Carolina — The Preston Family — 
Mrs. William Preston — Mrs. Merrick — Anecdote — Mrs. William 
C. Preston — Baron Raumer and the Peacock — Mrs. Preston in 
Columbia, South Carolina — Her Illness and Death — Mrs. Renwick 
— Celebrated by Bums — The Blue-Eyed Lassie of Lochmaben — 
Picture of her New York Life — Her House Washington Irving's 
"Ark" — Mrs. John C. Stevens — Her Masquerade Ball — Mrs. 
Parish — Mrs. Hickson Field — Mrs. Redfield — Mrs. Leavenworth. 295 

XV. 

Memoir of Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis — Her Widowhood — Return from 
abroad — Her Devotion to Works of Charity — The Mount Vernon 
Ball — Washington's Birthday made a Public Holiday through the 
Influence of Mrs. Otis — Her Receptions and Soirees — Her com- 
manding Position — Her Relinquishment of Social Honors to take 
Charge of the Enterprise for the Benefit of Poor Soldiers and 
their Families — Extracts from Reports — Her Perseverance and 
Benevolence — The Swedish Compliment to her — Successful 
Closing of the House — Tributes to Mrs. Otis — Her Portrait in the 
" Gallery of Fallen Heroes " — Her patriotic Liberality — Miss Mar- 
shall — Mrs. Derby — Mrs. Wallace — Mrs. William H. Prescott — 
Miss Harriet Preble 311 

XVI. 

Memoir of Mrs. Crittenden — Her Family — Early Marriage — Her 
Daughters — Stay in Washington — "The Belle of the Capital" — 
Mrs. Ashley the Center of a Brilliant Circle — Residence in St. 
Louis in her Widowhood — Education of her Daughters — Winters 
in Washington — Always a Favorite in Society — Her Tact, Grace, 
and generous Kindness — Marriage to Hon. J. J. Crittenden — Ap- 
pearance in Washington — Address to her at the National Hotel 
— Her Removal to New York — Miss Lane — Miss Fendall — Miss 
Morgan — Mrs. McLean — Mrs. Slidell — Her Appearance at a Ball, 
&c. — Mrs. A. G. Brown, of Mississippi — Mrs. A. V. Brown, of 
Tennessee — Entertainment at her House — Mrs. Calhoun — Miss 
Dahlgren — Mrs. Pringle — Mrs. Duval, of Louisiana — Prominent 
Richmond Ladies — Mrs. Reverdy Johnson — Mrs. Douglas — Mrs. 
Gaines— Mrs. Thornton. 32? 



8 . CONTENTS. 

XVII. 

PAGE 

Ladies prominent in Benevolent Enterprise — Mrs. James W. "White 
— Her Family— Her Mother— "The sweet Song "of her Girlhood 
— Daniel Dickinson's Letter — Her Marriage — Mr. White's Family 
— "Castle Comfort" — Perfect Domestic Management — A happy 
Home — Instruction of her Children — Their Musical Talent — Mrs. 
White's noble "Works — The first Great Fair — The first private 
Charity Soiree — Fair in the Academy of Music — Letter of the 
Archbishop — Method of Home Education — Home Amusements 
— Drawing-room Operas — Mrs. White's Correspondence and In- 
fluence — Senora del Bal — Her great Work in Santiago — Origin of 
the Idea of the "Nursery and Child's Hospital" — Charity of 
Mrs. Thomas Addis Emmet and Mrs. Cornelius Dubois — Erection 
of the Building — Fashionable Entertainments for its Benefit — 
Other fashionable Charities — Mrs. Dubois — Mrs. Emmet 342 

XVIII. 

Memoir of Mrs. Rush — ner Education — Dr. James Rush — She takes 
the Lead in Philadelphia Social Life — Her splendid Home — 
Enlarged Hospitalities — Description of her — Acknowledged the 
Queen of Society in Philadelphia — Parties and Receptions — 
Celebrities shown — Musical Character of the Receptions — Mrs. 
Rush's Estimate of Intellect — Her Disregard of Conventional 
Distinctions — Her Life at Saratoga Springs — A Fancy Ball — The 
Succession in Seats next her at Table — Conditions imposed — Her 
Dresses — Her last Ball at Home — The Robbery of her Jewels — 
Her last Summer at Saratoga — Illness and Death — Mrs. Mac- 
Gregor — Mrs. Daniel Webster — Mrs. Henry D. Gilpin — Brilliant 
in Washington Society as Mrs. Johnston — Her Marriage to Mr. 
Gilpin — Their Tour in Europe — Attentions received in London — 
Hospitalities extended by Persons of Rank and Literary Repute 
— Mrs. Gilpin's Tour on the Continent — Ascent of the Niie — 
Visit to Asia Minor — Turkey — Greece — Acquaintance with the 
Earl of Carlisle — Mrs. Gilpin's Home in Philadelphia — Her Mu- 
sical Receptions — Her Hospitality and Charities 363 

XIX. 

Mrs. Coventry Waddell — Her Family — Her Marriage — Mr. Waddell's 
noble Ancestry — " Murray Hill " Hospitalities, and brilliant Par- 
ties at this Villa — Tributes of Foreign Visitors — Mrs. Waddell at 
Saratoga — Ball at Murray Hill — Fancy Dresses — Complimentary 



CONTENTS. «* 

PAGE 

Letter of "Washington Irving — Ball at Murray Hill — Mr. Thack- 
eray's Letter — Mrs. Waddell's playful Wit — Loss of Fortune — 
Cheerfulness in Adversity — Home in the Highlands — Suburban 
Residence near New York — Mrs. Wadsworth — Mrs. Montgomery 
Ritchie — Miss Scliaumburg — Her Ancestors — Her Gifts in Vocal 
Music and Poetry — A Belle in Philadelphia Society — Admired by 
the Prince of Wales — Her wonderful Dramatic Talent — Perform- 
ances at the Amateur Theater for Charity — Ristori's Surprise and 
Delight 382 

XX. 

Memoir of Madame Le Vert — Her extraordinary Popularity — Cause 
of such universal Admiration unmixed with Envy — Her warm 
and kind Heart — Her Family — Childhood of Octavia — Visit to 
La Fayette — Classic and Scientific Studies — Miss Walton a great 
Linguist — Friendship with Washington Irving — Marriage — 
Friendship with Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley — Her Poem ad- 
dressed to Madame Le Vert — Visit to England — Distinguished 
Attentions to Madame Le Vert — Invitation to a Court Ball before 
her Presentation — A Star in the Court Circle — Presentation at 
the French Court, &c. — Return to Mobile — Her crowded Recep- 
tions — Miss Bremer's Tribute — Description of a Ball at her House y 
in Mobile — Madame Le Vert in Washington — At Newport — At 
Saratoga — Years of Trial at the South — Bereavements — Visit in 
New York — In Washington — Return to her Birth-place — In New 
Orleans — Devotion of her Servants. — Mrs. Acklen — Her Loveli- 
ness and Virtues — Marriage and Widowhood — "Bellemonte " — 
The most beautiful Home in the Southwest — Her Charity and 
Hospitality — Her Marriage to Dr. Cheatham — Mrs. Stanard of 
Richmond — Miss Emily Mason of Kentucky — Presides at the Gov- 
ernor's House in Detroit — A Celebrity in New Orleans, &c. — Loss 
of Fortune — The Market Farm — Rural Life — Seizure of her Home 
— Suspected as a Spy — Her Benevolent Labors in the Hospitals 
and for Southern Girls — Mrs. Phelps' Receptions in Baltimore . . 396 

XXI. 

Memoir of Mrs. Fremont — Her peculiar Influence — Her Maternal 
Ancestry — Colonel McDowell's eminent Position — Region in 
Virginia where the Family was settled — Early Customs — Con- 
tempt of mere Moneyed Aristocracy — The leading Families 
opposed to Slavery — Established Order of Society — Thackeray's 



10 CONTENTS. 

PAGK 

Types of the best Class — Absence of deceptive Display — Charac- 
ter of the true "Virginia Gentleman" — Colonel Benton's Family 
— In connection with leading Families of the State — Mrs. Albert 
Sidney Johnston — Colonel Benton's Famiiy in Washington — In 
St. Louis — In New Orleans — The Changes in Travel, and varied 
Experiences — Mrs. Benton's Washington Coteries — She gives 
Freedom to her Saves — Miss Benton's early Studies and Society 
Experiences — Marriage to Mr. Fremont — Share in his Western 
Adventure — The Flatteries of Society in Washington — Detention 
at Panama — Mrs. Fremont's Residence in California — The prac- 
tical Evidence of her Example said to influence the Decision for 
Freedom — Her Experiences in Western Life — The honest Spa- 
niards — Mrs. Fremont's Visit to Europe — Privileged at the Ping- 
lish Court — Scene in Paris at the Restoration of the Empire — 
Scene at the Court of St. James — The Campaign of 1856 — Again 
in Paris — Count de la Garde's Album left to Mrs. Fremont — Let- 
ter of Queen Hortense — Mrs. Fremont at St. Louis during the 
War — Her Removal to New York — Her Country Seat on the 
Hudson — Her Home Life and Instruction of her Children — Her 
active Charities and Aid to Benevolent Associations — The Brown 
Locks suddenly silvered — Mrs. Fremont's brilliant Wit and 
Humor — Her prepossessing personal Appearance . . . .' 428 

XXII. 

Mrs. Hills — The American Improvisatrice in Music — Lydia Maria 
Child enchanted by her Playing — Mrs. Osgood's Impromptu Lines 
— Mrs. Girard's Introduction of Morning Receptions — Mrs. Hills' 
" Mission " — Remark of Willis — Improvisation — Her Concerts 
at Dr. Ward's Theater — Mrs. John Schermerhorn — Miss Minnie 
Parker — Miss Hetty Carey — Miss Lillie Hitchcock — Mrs. Harvey 
— Miss Breckenridge — Mrs. William Schermerhorn — Her Fancy 
Ball — Mrs. Hamilton Fish — Mrs. Auguste Belmont — Brown, the 
Sexton and Manager of Entertainments — Poetical Tribute to him 
— Present Leaders in Boston — The Ladies prominent in Fashion- 
able Life not merely Frivolous, but Women of superior Intellect 
and Culture — Ball in Fifth Avenue — Presidential Reception — 
New Fashion at Delmonico's — Recent Changes in Social Life — 
"Fast" People— The "Shoddy" and "Petroleum" Element— 
Those who scatter Money merely for Display not worthy to be 
named — The Ball Season of 1866 — "Fast" Ladies — Pure Aris- 
tocracy in New York 449 



LIST OF PORTRAITS. 



PASS 

1. Mrs. J. J. Roosevelt . . • . . . . fkontibpiecb. 

2. Mrs. John Jay 50 

3. Mrs. John Hancoce: 119 

4. Mrs. Benjamin H. Field 1*75 

5. Mrs. President Polk 213 

6. Mrs. Sallie "Ward Hunt 235 

1. Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis 311 

8. Mrs. Senator Crittenden 32 7 

9. Mrs. James "W. "White 353 

10. Mrs. Coventry "Waddell . 384 

11. Madame Le Yert 396 

12. Mrs. "W. A. Cheatham 417 

13. Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont 440 



THE QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 



I. 



Ant view of society in the United States must, of 
necessity, take in a variety of aspects. During the 
existence of the Republic, there has been no period 
when its social condition was like that of a compact 
nation which had been a unity in its origin, growth, 
and development. In the early colonial days, the lead- 
ing society in the North, in the East, and in the South 
was composed of diverse elements; in each section dif- 
fering from that of others. Virginia — the first colony 
that could boast an aristocracy — traced her proud and 
gentle blood to ancient families of England ; in Penn- 
sylvania, and farther south, the best society came of 
that stock of continental Protestantism — the Erench 
and Flemish refugees — whom the bigotry of Philip the 
Second in one century, and of Louis XIV. in the 
next, drove from their homes and places of worship, 
to seek, in the wild solitude's of a new world, " freedom 
to worship God." To these, in Pennsylvania, were 



14 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

added the Quakers, who came to the country with 
William Penn. In New England, the Puritan element 
mingled with an aristocracy created by prosperity and 
growing wealth. Thus the social phases presented had 
various aspects, modified, in the progress of years, by 
the various modes of living. The unity of feeling 
produced by the Revolution caused some change and 
assimilation, so far as the great cities were concerned ; 
in other portions of the Union social differences not 
only continued to exist, but developed into more marked 
peculiarities. We cannot help observing this in the 
most general survey. 

About the middle of the last century we find a ruling 
class in families of wealth and distinction living hun- 
dreds of miles apart. We note this when we read of 
George Washington being entertained at the house of 
Beverley Robinson, and being captivated by the charms 
of his host's fair sister-in-law, Mary Philipse. She was 
the daughter of the lord of the old manor of Philips- 
borough, who owned an immense estate on the Hudson. 
Her marriage afterwards with Captain Roger Morris, and 
the confiscation of that portion of the Philipse estate, 
led to the formation of a home of another character. 
Both Mrs. Morris and her sister, Mrs. Robinson, who 
shared in the outlawry and attainder, were leaders in 
the society of that period, and remarkable for graces and 
accomplishments. 

About 1749 Mrs. Jeykell was leading lady of the ton 
in Philadelphia, pre-eminent in beauty and fashion. She 



THE FIRST BALL — LADY FRANKLAJSTD. 15 

was the grand-daughter of the first Edward Shippen, 
and married a brother of Sir Joseph Jeykell, secretary 
to Queen Anne. 

The first dancing assembly, said to have been held 
in Philadelphia in 1748, had its subscription list mostly 
filled with names of English families attached to the 
Church of England. The list was under the direction 
of John Inglis and other gentlemen, and each subscrip 
tion was forty shillings. The custom was universal 
among men, of wearing the hair tied up with ribbon, in 
a long bunch, in a form called a queue. Gentlemen's 
coats were made of cloth or velvet, of all colors; the 
collar being sometimes of a different hue from the coat. 
In the Supreme Court the Judges, in winter, wore robes 
of scarlet faced with black velvet ; in the summer, full 
black silk gowns. 

Agnes, Lady Frankland, was the wife of Sir Charles 
Henry Frankland, Baronet, who was buried alive at the 
great earthquake at Lisbon ; and being rescued through 
the efforts of the young girl, married her in 1755. Lady 
Frankland came to America after his death in 1768, 
and was allowed an escort to Boston by the Provincial 
Congress, and to take " seven trunks, beds and bedding, 
boxes, crates, a basket of chickens, some ham and veal, 
two barrels and a hamper, two horses and chaises, one 
phaeton, and small bundles." 

The biography of Catalina Schuyler, written by 
Anne McYickar, well known as Mrs. Grant, is an inter- 
esting memorial of early times. Catalina was the niece 



16 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

of the first Colonel Philip Schuyler. She was born in 
1702, and married her cousin, Philip Schuyler. Her 
house, near Albany, was a fine building, with large 
latticed portico with seats. The birds had their nests in 
the trees, and were so tame they would run across the 
table with insects or crumbs for their young. The Hud- 
son river was in front, and on its brink, under elm and 
sycamore trees, ran a road to Saratoga and the Lakes. 
The French Canadian prisoners usually called the good 
lady " Madame Schuyler," and she was "Aunt Schuyler" 
to the country people. She kept a liberal table, and 
had much influence in the primitive society .of the coun- 
try, though old-fashioned in her manners. Her superior 
mind and education, her virtues of character, and her 
majestic grace, commanded general respect. British 
officers of rank and merit were fond of visiting her. 
She read a great deal; and Milton and the Scriptures 
were her constant companions. "When she laid down 
the book she always took up her knitting. The grave 
of her husband was on the grounds near the house, and 
she was accustomed to sit near it. 

The fringe of civilization on the colonial seaboard in 
1770 and 1771 was very narrow, for though across the 
continent scattered military settlements extended to the 
Ohio, a hostile Indian population was not farther than 
the Susquehanna and the Lehigh from Philadelphia, 
then but a large village, with village habits and modes 
of life. For all articles of luxury, and even many of 
necessity, the colonies were dependent on the " Old 



THE FITZHUGH FAMILY. 17 

Country ;" and the few ships which periodically crossed 
the Atlantic were freighted with hats, shoes, pins, 
needles, and clothing of all kinds. Mrs. Reed, writing 
to her brother, in 1772, sends to England for " bowed 
cap-wires, quilted caps," and a gown to be dyed " any 
color it will take best." The literary taste of the period 
was the same prevalent in England, when the " Idler," 
the "Rambler," "Thomson's Seasons," or "Young's 
Night Thoughts," and their contemporary books, formed 
the current literature. In religious history, the time 
was that of the supervening of enthusiastic devotion 
upon the formalism of the Church of England ; of the 
diffusion of the spirit that animated Wesley and White- 
field to lift a banner alien to old forms, and rally round 
it the humble and the poor. 

One of the most prominent Maryland families was 
that of Fitzhugh. It was ancient and honorable in 
England. The first settler in America was William 
Fitzhugh ; he made a home in Westmoreland County, 
Virginia, and married Miss Tucker. From him de- 
scended all the Fitzhugh s in Virginia, Maryland, and 
Western New York. William was an eminent lawyer, 
and managed land causes for the great landholders. He 
was counselor for the first Robert Beverley, and trans- 
acted business for Lord Culpepper. 

Martha Washington is venerated as the earliest rep- 
resentative among the ladies prominent in our repub- 
lican society. She belonged to the Virginia school of 
aristocracy. The original settlements of that colony 



18 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

were agricultural, and the early settlers brought with 
them the feelings and habits of their native country. 
/The extensive landed proprietors formed a population 
'thinly scattered over a wide surface, and lived in almost 
patriarchal fashion. Their lands had a multitude of 
hands for cultivation ; but the only produce the Virginia 
gentry chose to deal in, was tobacco. They exercised 
boundless hospitality ; the gentlemen welcomed each 
other's visits and traveled in something like feudal state. 
The slavery question was never agitated. Thus, in the 
second or third generation, a class of "first families" 
was built up, and the best education was limited to 
them ; for there were no schools for the masses. There 
existed, therefore, a broad line of distinction between 
those wealthy proprietors and the common people. The 
planters had their "tenants and slaves, and lived luxuri- 
ously. The emigration of the cavaliers, in the days of 
Cromwell, did not lessen the supremacy of this landed 
aristocracy ; and the public offices, in most cases, passed 
into their hands ; the peasantry being retainers to their 
patrons. There were scarcely any towns, and the estab- 
lishments of the gentry were like little villages, in which 
they and their vassals dwelt. Some, indeed, were needy 
potentates, living in a rough manner, and attended by 
domestics in ragged liveries ; but all kept open house, 
were habitually idle, and loved field-sports like gentle- 
men of good lineage. They were " horse-racing, cock- 
fighting Virginia squires." Visiting was done in pon- 
derous emblazoned coaches. The hospitable board was 



VIRGINIA FAMILIES. 19 

loaded with terrapins, shad, salmon, wild geese, pigeons, 
plover, canvas-back ducks, venison, and every variety of 
bread, with "that delicious hotch-potch," gumbo, and 
other country dainties. The laced lappets of sleeves 
were turned up to carve, and guests were pressed to 
demolish the various meats and wash them down with 
cider, ale, brandy, and Bordeaux wine. 

Twenty-one counties in Virginia, comprising nearly 
a quarter of the State, are said to have once belonged to 
one family — that of Fairfax. Every acre was confis- 
cated, after the Revolution, because of loyalty to Great 
Britain. Many battles of the late civil war were fought 
on the old Fairfax domain. 

Robert Carter, called " King Carter," was a repre- 
sentative and agent of the Culpepper and Fairfax families. 
The Jacquelines were of Huguenot descent. The first 
of the name came from Kent, in England, 1697, married 
Miss Carey, and settled at Jamestown. The Ambler 
family came also from England, and was much noted in 
Virginia. Mrs. Edward Carrington was Jacqueline's 
grand-daughter. Thorpe is another noted name, dear to 
philanthropy as friendly to the Indians and early colonists. 

A curious incident of Bishop Clagget's consecration 
of the old St. Paul's Church, in Alexandria, is tra- 
ditional. As he walked to church, in his robes and 
mitre, the boys ran alongside, admiring his peculiar 
dress, which his gigantic stature and Herculean form 
set off. His voice matched his frame in irrepressible 
strength. As he entered the church, amid profound 



20 QUEENS OP AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

silence, and uttered the opening words of the service, a 
young lady, turning suddenly and seeing his huge form 
thus arrayed, fell into violent convulsions and was taken 
out. 

The name of Barradale is memorable in law, as well 
as of ancient respectability. Bray and Nelson are also 
remembered. When the British were about landing 
from James Biver, and Yorktown lay exposed, General 
Nelson sent his wife and infant to the upper country. 
Near Williamsburg she met a company of armed youths, 
marching to encounter the enemy. As they halted and 
presented arms, she saw two of her own sons, boys who 
had escaped from preparatory school. She ordered them 
into her carriage, and sent them back to Philadelphia. 

The first wife of Governor Page was Frances Bur- 
well, of the Isle of Wight. She was said to have no 
enemies; and to know no competition but how to out-do 
others in k'ndness and good offices. In the proud man- 
sion of his forefathers, this patriot soldier had on his 
walls the portrait of Selim, an Algerine negro, among 
those of his family. 

The name and blood of the Custis family was inter- 
mingled with those of the best families of Northampton 
and Accomac. John Custis appears earliest on record, 
in 1640. John Custis the fourth, educated in England, 
received the Arlington estate from his grandfather, re- 
moved to Williamsburg, and married the daughter of 
Colonel Daniel Parke. He was father to the first hus- 
band of Martha Washington. 



MRS. WASHINGTON. 21 

So many biographies of Mrs. Washington have been 
published, that any sketch of her life would be super- 
fluous. As a belle at the colonial court in Williamsburg, 
as a beautiful young widow reigning among the chival- 
rous Yirginians, as the wife of the Commander-in-chief 
and the President of the new nation — her benign aspect 
is familiar. It will be remembered that she was accus- 
tomed to join General Washington in camp, traveling 
with postillions in white and scarlet liveries. During 
the six years that elapsed before Washington was chosen 
to the Presidency she remained at Mount Yernon, dis- 
pensing its ample hospitalities with gracious tact and 
the dignity of a Virginia matron. Brissot wrote : 
" Every thing about the house has an air of simplicity ; 
the table is good, but not ostentatious ; and no deviation 
is seen from regularity and domestic economy. She 
superintends the whole, and joins to the qualities of an 
excellent housewife the simple dignity which ought to 
characterize a woman whose husband has acted the 
greatest part on the theatre of human affairs." 

At a brilliant entertainment given in the camp near 
Middlebrook, in celebration of the anniversary of the 
American alliance with France, Mrs. Washington, Mrs. 
Greene, Mrs. Knox, and many other distinguished ladies 
were present, forming " a circle of brilliants." The fete 
was opened by the discharge of cannon; there was a 
dinner, and dancing and fireworks followed in the even- 
ing. The adornments and illuminations were cheap ; 



22 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

the company consisting of hardy soldiers and lively 
belles. 

At a subscription ball in Philadelphia, the master of 
ceremonies distributed partners by lot. The dances 
related to politics. One was called " The Success of 
the Campaign;" another, "The Defeat of Burgoyne ;" 
another, " Clinton's Retreat," &c. A young lady who 
in talking forgot her turn in the figure, was sharply 
reproved by a manager. " Take care, Miss !" lie cried. 
" Do you think you come here for your own pleasure V 
/ The Birth-night Ball was instituted at the close of 
the war. Its first celebration was at Alexandria, and it 
became general in all the towns. Among the brilliant 
illustrations of a birth-night were groups of young ladies, 
wearing in their hair bandeaux or scrolls embroidered in 
ancient and modern languages with the motto : " Long 
live the President." The last celebration was attended 
by Washington, in Alexandria, February 22, 179S. 

General Washington came to Annapolis in Decem- 
ber, 1783, after his adieu to the army in New York. 
Generals Gates and Smallwoed, with a large concourse of 
distinguished citizens, met and escorted him to the hotel, 
amid the firing of cannon, the display of banners, and 
other manifestations of popular respect. A dinner was 
given to him by the members of Congress, at which two 
hundred persons were present ; and he attended a grand 
ball in the State House, which was brilliantly illuminated. 
Washington opened the ball with Mrs. James Macubbin, 
one of the most beautiful women of the time. 



NEW YORK AS THE CAPITAL. 23 

Mr. Noah "Webster visited Mount Yernon in 1785, 
when the old mansion of the retired chief was crowded 
with a succession of guests. He mentioned that the last 
course at dinner consisted of pancakes, with a bowl of 
sugar and one of molasses. Webster refused the mo- 
lasses : " Enough of that in my own country," lie said. 
General Washington then told the story of a hogshead 
of molasses upset in a wagon and stove in, at Westches- 
ter ; and some Maryland troops being near, the soldiers 
running to fill their hats and caps. 

The court end of New York before the Revolution 
had been Pearl Street, between Coenties Slip and the 
neighboring streets. Wall Street became a rival seat of 
fashion, surperseded by Park Place. " Few Americans," 
says Mr. Jay, " as they pass the northwest corner of 
Wall and Broad Streets, now faced by the Custom 
House on one side, and Broad Street with its throng of 
brokers on the other, recall the memorable historic 
scenes associated with the spot where stood the old 
Federal Hall, adorned with the portraits of Louis XYI. 
and Marie Antoinette, presented by the French mon- 
arch — portraits that graced the chambers where assem- 
bled the first Congress under the new Constitution. 
Washington Irving was -one of the latest survivors of the 
throng that, in 17S9, witnessed from the balcony of the 
Hall the inauguration of the first President, and whose 
acclamations greeted the announcement by Chancellor 
Livingston : ' Long live George. Washington, President 
of the United States !' It should not be forgotten by 



24 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

New Yorkers that on the same spot were heard, in the 
Senate, the voices of John Langdon, Oliver Ellsworth, 
Charles Carroll, Eichard Henry Lee, and Ealph Izard ; 
and, in the Chamber of Representatives, the voices of 
Elbridge Gerry, Roger Sherman, Jeremiah Wads worth, 
Elias Boudinot, Frederick A. Muhlenberg, James Mad- 
ison, and that greatest of American orators, Fisher 
Ames." 

A ball was given at the Assembly Rooms, on the east 
side of Broadway, above Wall Street (New York was 
then the capital), on the Tth May, 1789, to celebrate the 
inauguration. The members of Congress and their fam- 
ilies were present, with the ministers of France and 
Spain, distinguished generals of the army, and persons 
eminent in the State. Among the most noted ladies 
were Mrs. Jay, Mrs. Hamilton, and Mrs. Montgomery, 
the widow of the hero of Quebec. A specialty at this 
ball was the presentation by the committee, to each lady, 
of a fan made in Paris, the ivory frame containing a 
medallion portrait of Washington, in profile. These 
fans were presented to the ladies as each couple passed 
the receiver of tickets. It was of this ball that an 
account was published by Jefferson in his " Ana," upon 
insufficient authority. Washington danced in two cotil- 
lions and a minuet. Colonel Stone, in describing this 
ball, says: "Few jewels were then worn in the United 
States, but in other respects the costumes were rich and 
beautiful, according to the fashions of the day. One 
favorite dress was a plain celestial-blue satin gown, with 



THE INAUGURATION BALL. 25 

a white satin petticoat. On the neck was worn a very 
large Italian gauze handkerchief, with border stripes of 
satin. The head-dress was a puff of gauze in the form 
of a globe, the head-piece of which was composed of white 
satin, having a double wing in large plaits, and trimmed 
with a wreath of artificial roses, falling from the left at 
the top to the right at the bottom in front, the reverse 
behind. The hair was dressed all over in detached curls, 
four of which, in two ranks, fell on each side of the neck, 
and were relieved behind by a floating chignon" 

Some of the ladies wore hats of white satin, with 
plumes and cockades. A plain gauze handkerchief, 
sometimes striped with satin, was worn on the neck, the 
ends tied under the bodice. 

In the evening of the inauguration, the house of 
Count de Moustier — near Bowling Green, in Broadway — 
was brilliantly illuminated, the doors and windows dis- 
playing borderings of lamps that shone on paintings 
suggestive of the past, present, and future in American 
history. There were large transparencies over the front 
of the house, said to be painted by Madame de Brehan, 
sister to the Count. 

The subject of the President's title had caused much 
discussion in society. Madison recommended that he be 
spoken of simply as " The President," or " The Chief 
Justice;" MeKean proposed "His Serene Highness," 
without the " most," as a title that had not been appro- 
priated in Europe. General Muhlenberg thought Wash- 
ington would like the title "High Mightiness," used by 



26 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

the Stadtholder of Holland. The General, dining with 
Washington, observed on the subject: "If the office 
could always be held by men as large as yourself or 
Wynkoop, it would be appropriate ; but if by chance a 
president as small as my opposite neighbor were elected, 
it would be ridiculous. 1 ' He therefore voted against any 
title. 

More than a month after the inauguration, Mrs. 
Washington set out for ~New York with her grandchil- 
dren, Eleanor Custi3 and George Washington Parke 
Custis, traveling in her private carriage, with a small 
escort on horseback. She was received at Hammond's 
Ferry by a deputation of citizens; and fireworks, a 
supper, and a serenade celebrated her arrival. Her 
dress was entirely of American manufacture. Informa- 
tion being sent to Philadelphia that she would breakfast 
in Chester, two troops of dragoons, under Captains 
Miles and Bingham, left town early, with a numerous 
cavalcade of citizens, and halted at ten miles distance to 
await her appearance. The military formed and re- 
ceived her with honors, the procession defiling on either 
side for her carriage to pass. At Darby, seven miles 
from Philadelphia, she was met by a brilliant company 
of ladies in carriages, who escorted her to Gray's Perry, 
on the Schuylkill. At that favorite resort a collation 
was prepared, at a fashionable inn, for more than a 
hundred persons. 

Mrs. Robert Morris, who was to entertain Mrs. 
Washington, here took a seat in her carriage, resigning 



THE PROGRESS TO NEW YORK. 27 

her own to young Custis. About two o'clock the pro- 
cession entered High Street, amid the ringing of bells, 
the firing of thirteen guns, and shouts of joy from the 
people. Mrs. Washington thanked them, and dismissed 
her escort. The doors of Mrs. Morris were thronged 
with visitors next day. 

Such a reception may have recalled to the memory 
of Mrs. Washington the disaffection shown her on an 
earlier visit to Philadelphia, during the war, when she 
was waited on with a request that she would not attend 
a ball in preparation. 

Mrs. Morris accompanied her when she left Philadel- 
phia. The party slept at Trenton, and at Elizabethtown 
were the guests of the venerable Mr. Livingston. The 
President left New York at five o'clock, in his barge, 
manned by thirteen pilots in rich white dresses, to meet 
his wife. A crowd gathered on the wharves to greet the 
returning vessel, and a salute of thirteen guns was fired 
as it approached the Battery. 

The winter of 1787-88 had been remarkably gay in 
ISTew York. William Livingston, in a letter written in 
March, 1787, alludes to the extravagance and dissipation 
of fashionable life in that city. " My principal secretary 
of state," he says, " who is one of my daughters, is gone 
to New York, to shake her heels at the balls and assem- 
blies of a metropolis which might as Tsell be more stu- 
dious of paying its taxes than of instituting expensive 
diversions." 

The residence of President Washington was on the 



28 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

spot now known as the corner of Cherry Street and 
Franklin Square. The house had plain furniture. The 
family plate had been melted and renovated.^ The state 
coach was the finest carriage in the city, and was drawn 
by four horses ; by six, when it conveyed the President 
to Federal Hall. The coach-body was in the shape of a 
hemisphere, cream-colored, and ornamented with cupids 
supporting festoons, with borders of flowers around the 
panels. 

The principal ladies of New York, at the time the 
" Republican Court " was established there, were Mrs. 
George Clinton, Mrs. Montgomery, Lady Stirling, Lady 
Kitty Duer, Lady Mary "Watts, Lady Temple, Lady 
Christiana Griffin, the Marchioness de Brehan, Madame 
de la Forest, Mrs. John Langdon, Mrs. Tristram Dalton, 
Mrs. Knox, Mrs. Robert R. Livingston, of Clermont, the 
Misses Livingston, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Gerry, Mrs. 
McComb, Mrs. Edgar, Mrs. Lynch, Mrs. Houston, Mrs. 
Provost, Mrs. Beekman, the Misses Bayard, &c. 

Mr. Wingate describes the dinner given at Wash- 
ington's house the day after his wife's arrival, as the 
least showy of any he ever saw at the President's 
table. The Chief said grace and dined on boiled leg 
of mutton. After dessert one glass of wine was 
offered to each guest, and when it had been drunk, 
the President rose and led the way to the drawing- 
room. Two days afterwards Mrs. "Washington held 
her first levee, the President continuing to receive 
every Tuesday afternoon. Mrs. Washington received 



mes. Washington's levees— ball. 29 

from eight to ten every Friday evening. The levees 
were numerously attended by all that was fashiona- 
ble, elegant, or refined in society ; but " there were 
no places for the intrusion of the rabble in crowds, or 
for the mere coarse and boisterous partisan, the vul- 
gar electioneerer, or the impudent place-hunter, with 
boots, frock-coats, or roundabouts, or with patched knees 
and holes at both elbows. On the contrary, they were 
select and more courtly than have been given by any of 
the President's successors." Mrs. Washington was care- 
ful, in her drawing-room, to exact those courtesies to 
which she knew her husband entitled. "Democratic 
rudeness had not then so far gained the ascendency as 
to banish good manners." " None were admitted to the 
levees but those who had either a right by official station 
or by established merit and character ; and full dress 
was required of all." 

The journals of the day especially noted a magnifi- 
cent ball given by Count de Moustier at his house. A 
lady said she heard the Marchioness declare she had 
exhausted every resource to produce an entertainment s 
worthy of France, and Elias Boudinot calls it " a most 
splendid ball indeed. After the arrival of the President, 
a company of eight couples formed, and, entering the 
room, began a curious dance called en ballet. Four of 
the gentlemen were dressed in French regimentals, and 
four in American uniforms ; four of the ladies had 
American flowers with blue ribbons round their heads, 
and four had red roses and the flowers of France." ^ 



30 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

"Three rooms were tilled, and the fourth was elegantly- 
set oft" as a place for refreshment. A long table crossed 
this room in the middle, and the whole wall inside was 
lighted up, and covered with shelves filled with cakes, 
oranges, apples, wines of all sorts, ice-creams, &c. A 
number of servants behind the table supplied the guests 
with every thing they wanted from time to time, as they 
came in to refresh themselves, which they did as often as 
a party had done dancing, making room for another set. 
"We retired about ten o'clock, in the height of the 
jollity." 

The anniversary of the Declaration of Independence 
was celebrated by a brilliant ball, at which Mrs. Wash- 
ington and the principal ladies of " her court " were 
present. 

At the Presidential receptions "Washington wore " his 
Hair powdered and gathered behind in a silk bag. His 
coat and breeches were of plain black velvet ; he wore a 
white or pearl-colored vest and yellow gloves, and had 
a cocked hat in his hand, with silver knee and shoe 
buckles, and a long sword, with a finely-wrought and 
glittering steel hilt. The coat was worn over this and 
its scabbard of polished white leather." He never shook 
hands at these receptions, even with intimate friends. 
Visitors were received with a dignified bow, and passed 
on. At Mrs. "Washington's levees he appeared as a 
private gentleman, with neither hat nor sword ; con- 
versing without restraint, and generally with ladies. 

Private theatricals were sometimes given at "Wash- 



MKS. ROBERT MORRIS. 31 

ington's house. President Duer enacted Brutus, in 
" Julius Cagsar," before him in the attic of the Presi- 
dential mansion, young Custis taking the part of 
Cassius. 

At one of Mrs. Washington's Friday evening draw- 
ing-rooms, owing to the lowness of the ceiling, the 
ostrich feathers in the head-dress of Miss Mary McEvers, 
a distinguished belle in New York, took fire from the 
chandelier, to the general confusion and alarm. Major 
Jackson, aid-de-camp to the President, flew to the rescue, 
and, clapping the burning plumes between his hands, 
extinguished them. This lady married Edward Living- 
ston, the minister to France. 

At Mrs. Washington's drawing-rooms, " Mrs. Morris 
always sat at her right hand; and at all the dinners, 
public or private, at which Robert Morris was a guest, 
that venerable man was placed at the right of Mrs. 
Washington." At the age of thirty-six, Robert Morris 
had married Miss White, the sister of Bishop White. 
She was described as " a lady of elegant accomplish- 
ments, rich, and well qualified to carry the felicity of 
connubial life to its highest perfection." 

Mrs. Washington was accustomed to speak of her 
days of public life in New York and Philadelphia as her 
"lost days." She preferred home comforts and seclu- 
sion. Contrasting the pictures, Mrs. Carrington wrote 
to her sister, a short time before Washington's death, 
describing his wife's room at Mount Yernon : " On one 
Bide sits the chambermaid with her knitting; on the 



32 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

other a little colored pet learning to sew. A decent- 
looking old woman is there, with her table and shears, 
cutting out the negroes' winter clothes : while the good 
old lady directs them all, incessantly knitting herself. 
She points out to me several pairs of nice colored stock- 
ings and gloves she has just finished, and presents me 
with a pair half done, which she begs I will finish, and 
wear for her sake." 

Loving such simple, domestic employments, and 
wearied with the glare, no wonder the illustrious lady 
was restive under the etiquette of public life. 

The custom of calls on New Tear's day was intro- 
duced by the Dutch and the Huguenots. The President 
received calls on the first of January, 1790. At Mrs. 
"Washington's levee the visitors were seated, and tea and 
coffee were handed, with plain and plum cake. The 
company was expected to retire early. " The General 
retires at nine, and I usually precede him," the lady 
would say. 

To an inquiry by the President whether such obser- 
vances were casual or customary, it was answered that 
New Tear's visits had always been kept up in the city. 
Washington remarked that the favored situation of New 
Tork would in time attract numerous emigrants, who 
TTonld gradually change its ancient customs and man- 
ners; but, he added, "whatever change takes place, 
never forget this cordial and cheerful observance of 
New Tear's day." 

Curwen, in his Journal, give?, as the origin of the 



PEOMINENT LADIES. 33 

custom of offering New Tear's presents, the tradition 
that Tatius, King of the Sabines, was presented with 
boughs from the forest of the goddess Strenia, in token 
of good-will, and consecrated the holiday to Janus. 
The people sacrificed to Janus, and brought presents 
of dates, figs, honey, &c, covered with leaf-gold. 

Of ~New York, Brissot wrote : " The inhabitants pre- 
fer the splendor of wealth and the show of enjoyment to 
a simplicity of manners and the pure pleasures resulting 
from it. The expenses of women cause matrimony to 
be dreaded by men." But when Oliver Wolcott, in 
1789, was appointed Auditor of the Treasury, he wrote 
to Ellsworth about the cost of living, and was informed 
that a thousand dollars a year ought to supply him and 
his family. " The example of the President," said his 
correspondent, (i and his family, will render parade and 
expense improper and disreputable." 

Among the ladies most intimate with Mrs. Washing- 
ton, beside Mrs. Knox, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Morris, and 
Mrs. Powell, were Mrs. Bradford, Mrs. Otis, and Miss 
Boss. Mrs. Otis was the wife of the Secretary of the 
Senate, and mother of the great Senator, Harrison Gray 
Otis, who married in Boston, May, 1790, Miss Sally 
Foster, daughter of a prominent merchant. She was 
remarkable for beauty of person and grace of demeanor, 
vivacity of wit, and powerful intellect. She was promi- 
nent in metropolitan society during the administration 
of Washington. Mrs. Stewart, also noted in the same 
circle, was the wife of General Walter Stewart ; and 

2* 



8-t QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Miss Ross was the beautiful daughter of a Senator from 
Pennsylvania. 

Mrs. Bradford was the only child of Elias Boudinot, 
and married William Bradford, afterwards judge of the 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Her house was always 
the elegant abode of the most cordial hospitality. Her 
graces of person were so remarkable, that even at the 
age of four-score her appearance was strikingly prepos- 
sessing, and her carriage was stately as ever. Her 
suavity of manner and kindness of heart were also 
memorable. Mrs. Wallace, the wife of a nephew of 
Mr. Bradford's, thus described her : — 

" Mrs. Bradford is one of the finest models of mild 
and courtly dignity this country can exhibit. Early 
accustomed to the best society, of a family and connec- 
tions holding rank and offices of trust and honor — her 
happy and much caressed girlhood was passed in inter- 
course with persons long since the boast of the brightest 
days of American refinement and patriotism. With her 
husband she commanded a sphere of extensive influence, 
the just desert of their united excellencies, and lived 
more than ten years in the full possession of every 
earthly enjoyment. Well for them they lived as Chris- 
tians ought to live, in constant remembrance of their 
accountability to God ! for in the height of distinction 
their well-planned schemes of happiness were laid in the 
dust by the death of Mr. Bradford. For many years 
afterward Mrs. Bradford maintained a position of useful- 



BELLES IN SOCIETY. 35 

ness, dispensing elegant hospitality to her numerous 
relatives and friends." 

This lady, Mrs. Hamilton, and the younger Mrs. 
Charles Carroll, were the last survivors of the ladies of 
the Republican Court. Mrs. Carroll was Harriet Chew, 
daughter of Benjamin Chew, and was married after the 
retirement of "Washington to Mount Yernon. One of 
her sisters married Henry Philips; another, Colonel 
John Eager Howard, of Baltimore, coming to live in 
Philadelphia in 1796. These ladies were great favorites 
with Washington, and were belles in society. Julia 
Seymour was another celebrated beauty. Miss Mary 
Ann Wolcott, also distinguished for charms of person, 
was married to Chauncey Goodrich, of New York. 
Mrs. Wolcott. of Connecticut, had less beauty, but was 
noted for graceful manners, and few could be compared 
with her for culture, intelligence, and refinement. The 
British minister remarked to Tracy at a dance: "Your 
countrywoman, Mrs. Wolcott, would be admired even 
at St. James's." — " Sir," replied the senator, " she is ad- 
mired even on Litchfield Hill." A member of Congress 
called her " a divine woman ;" another, " the magnificent 
Mrs. Wolcott;" and some compared her to Mrs. Bing- 
ham. 

The family of Charles Carroll had been settled in 
Maryland ever since the reign of James the Second. 
They were among the wealthiest in the Union, and 
stood at the head of the landed aristocracy, which was 
naturally in alliance with the Government. Yet Carroll 



36 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

was among the first to sign the Declaration of Indepen • 
deuce. " There go millions of property !" was the com- 
ment ; and when it was said, " You will get clear ; there 
are so many of the name," he added to his signature, 
" of Carrollton." He was senator from Maryland. He 
had " one fair daughter," Polly, who was married in 
1786 to Richard Caton, an Englishman. In 1809 two 
of her daughters were the reigning belles of Baltimore 
and Washington. The eldest had a romantic history. 
She was married, when very young, to Robert Patter- 
son, a wealthy merchant. Traveling in Europe, she 
attracted the attention of Sir Arthur Wellesley, after- 
wards the Duke of Wellington. He was so captivated 
with her, that he followed her over half the European 
continent, causing some scandal, notwithstanding her 
prudence, by his unguarded devotion. After Mrs. Pat- 
terson's return to Maryland, her admirer kept a diary 
for her amusement, and sent her letters. After she 
became a widow she revisited London ; but the future 
hero of Waterloo was then a married man. He intro- 
duced to her his elder brother, the Marquis of Welles- 
ley ; the great statesman whose outset in life was marked 
by a cordial support of American Independence. He 
was Viceroy of Ireland. He married Mrs. Patterson, 
while Sir Arthur continued her warm friend. The Mar- 
chioness of Wellesley died at Hampton Court in Decem- 
ber, 1853. One of her sisters was the wife of Colonel 
Harvey, aid-de-camp to Lord Wellington at the battle 
of Waterloo ; and, being widowed, married the Marquis 



MRS. THOMAS JEFFERSON". 87 

of Carmarthen, afterwards Duke of Leeds. Another 
daughter of Mrs. Caton married Baron Stafford; an- 
other, Mr. McTavish, of Baltimore. 

In 1T96, General Washington received as a guest, at 
Mount Vernon, Don Carlos Martinez, Marquis d'Yrujo, 
the newly arrived Spanish ambassador, who had suc- 
ceeded Jaudennes. The Marquis had not been long in 
Philadelphia before he fell in love with Sally, the daugh- 
ter of Thomas McKean, Chief-Justice of Pennsylvania. 
Miss McKean, a celebrated beauty, became the Mar- 
chioness d'Yrujo. Her son, the Duke of Sotomayer, 
who was born in Philadelphia, became the Prime Minis- 
ter of Spain. 

Henry Wansey, in his Travels, also speaks of the 
simple manners of Washington and his family. He 
breakfasted with them, June 8, 1794, and Mrs. Wash- 
ington made the tea and coffee. There were plates of 
sliced tongue, dry toast, and bread and butter. 

The wife of Thomas Jefferson was Mrs. Martha 
Skelton, a rich widow, twenty-three at her second nup- 
tials. She was of good family, beautiful, accomplished, 
and greatly admired. The story went, that two, among 
the many suitors for her hand, going severally to her 
house on the same errand, to learn their fate from her 
decision, met in the hall, where they heard her playing 
on the harpsichord and singing a love-song, accompanied 
by Jefferson's voice and violin. Something in the song 
or the manner of the singing satisfied both wooers of the 
folly of their hopes, and they withdrew. The statesman 



38 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

was fond of the violin. When his paternal home was 
burned he asked, "Are all the books destroyed?" — "Yes, 
massa," was the reply, " dey is ; but we saved de fiddle." 

Thomas Jefferson kept open house, it is said, and a 
liberal table. His eldest daughter, Martha, was born in 
1772. John Randolph called her " the sweetest young 
creature in Virginia." She was intrusted in Paris to 
the care of Mrs. Adams, and pleased every one by the 
good feeling and kindness expressed in her conversation. 
Mrs. Smith wrote : " Delicacy and sensibility are read in 
her every feature, and her manners are in unison with all 
that is amiable and lovely." While Martha was at 
school in Philadelphia, 1783, boarding with Mrs. Trist, 
her father wrote : " With respect to the distribution of 
time, the following is what I should approve: From 
eight to ten, practice music ; from ten to one, dance one 
day and draw another ; from one to two, draw on the 
day you dance, and write a letter next day; from three 
to four, read French ; from four to five, exercise yourself 
in music ; from five till bedtime, read English, write, &c. 
Communicate this plan to Mrs. Hopkinson, and, if she 
approve of it, pursue it." 

Miss Jefferson was educated in Philadelphia and in 
Europe. She married Thomas Mann Randolph, of 
Tuckahoe, " a gentleman of genius, science, and honor- 
able mind," who afterwards filled a dignified station in 
the General Government, and the highest in his own 
State. They lived in Virginia. 

Mrs. Graydon was born in the island of Barbadoes, 



BELLES IN SOCIETY. 39 

but came very young to Philadelphia. Dr. Baird called 
her " the finest girl in Philadelphia, having the manners 
of a lady bred at court." After her marriage to Mr. 
Graydon, their house was the resort of numerous distin- 
guished guests, who were hospitably entertained. Among 
the foreigners were, Baron de Kalb ; Lady Moore, the 
wife of Sir Henry Moore ; and her daughter, Lady Susan 
O'Brien ; and her husband, Major George Etherington ; 
Sir William Draper, and others. During the War of 
the Revolution, Mrs. Graydon went from her home in 
Reading to Philadelphia, to solicit the release of her son 
Alexander from Sir William Howe. She met with 
many curious adventures,* but succeeded in her object. 

Margaretta Faugeres, the daughter of Mr. Bleecker, 
was distinguished in New York fashionable society, after 
the war, as a highly gifted and accomplished woman. 
She died at twenty-nine. 

The daughters of Henry White, who married Miss 
Van Cortlandt, were greatly admired ; the family hold- 
ing a high position among loyalists before and during 
the Revolutionary war. They lived in Wall Street, 
near Broadway. One of the Misses White was dowager 
Lady Hayes, and the widow of Peter Jay Monroe. 
Mrs. White possessed great wealth, " and her recollec- 
tions of New York society were curious." I find thus 
quoted an old citizen's reminiscences :— 

" You must remember the Misses White, so gay and 

* Women of the American Revolution. 



40 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

fashionable ; so charming in conversation, with such 
elegant figures ! I remember going one night, with Sir 
John Temple and Henry Remsen, to a party at their 
house. I was dressed in a light-blue French coat, with 
high collar, broad lapels, and large gilt buttons ; a 
double-breasted Marseilles vest, nankeen-colored cassi- 
mere breeches, with white silk stockings, shining pumps, 
and full rumes on my breast and at my wrists, together 
with a ponderous white cravat with a pudding in it, as 
we then called it. I was considered the best dressed 
gentleman in the room. I remember to have walked a 
minuet with much grace with my friend Mrs. Yerplanck, 
who was dressed in hoop and petticoats ; and, singularly 
enough, I caught cold that night from drinking hot port- 
wine negus, and riding home in a sedan-chair with one 
of the glasses broken." 



THE LIVINGSTON FAMILY. 41 



II. 



The Livingstons in America, at the time of the 
Revolution, according to Mr. Theodore Sedgwick, in 
his life of Governor Livingston, were descended from 
Robert, the second son of the fourth Lord Livingston of 
Scotland, whose daughter was in attendance upon the 
Scottish Queen at the French Court. At a later day 
the seventh Lord Livingston was made Earl of Linlith- 
gow, and the earldom continued in the family for five 
generations. Robert was born in 1654, emigrated to 
America 1674, and married, about 1683, Alida, widow 
of the Reverend, sometimes called Patron Nicholas Yan 
Rensselaer, and daughter of Philip Pieterre Schuyler. 
The patent of the Manor and Lordship of Livingston 
granted to Robert bears date the 22d of July, 1686, and 
comprised from one hundred and twenty thousand to 
one hundred and fifty thousand acres on the Hudson 
River. His son, Philip Livingston, who succeeded to the 
manorial estate, born at Albany in 1686, and prominent 
in the history of the Colony, married Catherine Yan 
Brugh, daughter of Peter Yan Brugh, of Albany, of the 
Dutch family of Yan Brugge, of whom was Carl Yan 
Brugge, Lieutenant-Governor under Peter Stuyvesant 
in 1648. 



42 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Among the children by this marriage were Robert, 
who succeeded to the manor as the last lord — the Revo- 
lution breaking the entail; and Peter Yan Brugh, mer- 
chant, of New York, who married Mary Alexander, 
sister of Lord Stirling, both adhering to the British 
during the war; with Philip, the siguer of the Dec- 
laration of Independence ; John, merchant, of New 
York ; William, Governor of New Jersey ; Sarah, 
wife of Alexander, Lord Stirling ; Alida, who mar- 
ried, first, Henry Hausen ; and secondly, Martin Hoff- 
man; Catharine, who married John L. Laurence, and 
Henry. 

"William Livingston, born 1723, married, in 1745, 
Susannah French, of New Brunswick, a grand-daugh'ter 
of Philip French, an English gentleman.* 

Governor Livingston's political principles were deci- 
dedly Republican, and he declined to give to his country- 
seat at Elizabethtown any name more aristocratic than 
"Liberty Hall." He was a man of marked ability, 
decided in his views, and fearless in their expression ; a 

* Mr. French at one time owned a tract in New Jersey, comprising 
what is now New Brunswick. Miss French was grand-daughter on her 
mother's side to Anthony Brockhold, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony 
of New York under Andross, and subsequently its chief magistrate. 
Philip French, of England, married a daughter of Frederiok Philipse, or, 
as formerly written, Flypsen, a Protestant refugee from Bohemia, where 
his father had lost his life. The other children of Philipse were Eva 
(who married Jacobus Van Cortlandt, and became the mother of Mary 
Van Cortlandt, wife of Peter Jay, and mother of John Jaj') and two 
sons, Frederick and Adolphus. A grandson, also named Frederick, and 
the inheritor of the manor of Philipsburgh, joined the Tories in the Revo- 
lution, and his estate was confiscated. 



THE LIVINGSTON FAMILY. 48 

forcible writer, and exhibiting at times great power of 
satire. 

Sarah Tan Brugh, his fourth daughter, born in 
August, 1757, inherited some of his finest traits, intel- 
lectual and moral, which were developed by a very 
careful education, while with the father's stern patriot- 
ism and resolution she blended features of gentleness, 
grace, and beauty peculiarly her own. The delicate 
sensibility occasionally exhibited in her letters seems to 
have come from her mother. 

The family of Governor Livingston was a large one, 
and besides sons, who died young, there were four other 
daughters: Susan, who married John Cleve Symmes; 
Kitty, who married Mathew Ridley, of Baltimore ; Ju- 
dith, who married John W. "Watkins; and Mary, who 
married James Linn. 

When the Governor's house was forcibly entered at 
night by British soldiers, in February, 1779, not finding 
him, they demanded his papers. Miss Susan Livingston 
had been prepared for this visit, and quietly assented, 
claiming only safety for a box containing " her private 
property." The officer set a guard over it, while the 
library was ransacked, and the men filled their forao-insr 
bags with worthless law papers, and then quitted the 
house. The box thus saved contained the Governor's 
correspondence with Congress, the Commander-in-Chief, 
and State officers. 

In one of Livingston's letters to the Earl of Stirling, 
he says he has .j trusted to his daughter Catherine his 



44 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

dispatches to his correspondents in Spain. General 
Washington's complimentary note to this lady was first 
published in " The Women of the American Revolu- 
tion." 

The sister of Governor Livingston, Sarah, married 
the Earl of Stirling, whom she accompanied to camp 
when he served in the American Army. She visited 
New York while it was in possession of the British, to 
see her daughter, Lady Catherine Alexander, whose 
husband was neutral in politics. Lady Stirling was a 
strong patriot, and would not avail herself of Sir Henry 
Clinton's permission to take any thing out of the city. 

Lady Catherine Alexander was the daughter of Lord 
Stirling, and was married at Baskenridge, New Jersey, 
to Colonel William Duer, in 1779. She was very beau- 
tiful, and much admired in society. 

On the 28th of April, 1774, Sarah Livingston, then 
in her eighteenth year, was married at Elizabethtown 
to John Jay, a young lawyer in his twenty-ninth year, 
of a Huguenot family, which, by intermarriage with 
the Bayards and Yan Cortlandts, had become connected 
with the prominent families of the province. Mr. Jay, 
up to this time, had held no public office, excepting that 
of Secretary to the Royal Commission for settling the 
boundary between New York and New Jersey. Before 
the honeymoon, however, was complete, in May, 1774, 
Jay was called to take part in the first movements of 
that Revolution which was to result in the birth of a 
new Republic, and from this date the private life of Mrs. 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 45 

Jay was so shaped and controlled by public events that 
it is hardly possible to give even a sketch of her career 
without occasionally referring to the history of the 
country. Mr. Jay's public duties as member of the 
New York Provincial Congress and of the Committee 
of Safety, and in other important capacities, kept him 
constantly separated from his young wife, who passed 
the greater part of the time at the residence of her 
father, with occasional visits to her husband's parents at 
their country place at Rye, Westchester County, New 
York. Her husband wrote to her from Philadelphia : — 
"I am much obliged to you for being so mindful of my 
good mother." The letters of Mr. Jay's father, Peter 
Jay, frequently show the fondness of the old people for 
their youthful daughter-in-law ; and one of his notes 
about this time, from Rye to his son at Philadelphia, 
thus mentions a passing visit from the Commander-in- 
Chief: "General Washington, and several gentlemen 
with him, called here about ten o'clock last Tuesday 
morning. They stayed about an hour with me and 
refreshed themselves, then set off again on their journey, 
and appeared much pleased with the reception they had 
met here. * * General Washington told me you were 
well." 

The progress of the war brought to the Americans 
living near New York increased hardship and anxiety, 
and added to the trial already suffered by Mrs. Jay of 
being separated from her husband. He had written to 
her in December, 1776 — " I begin to wish for the holi- 



46 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

days ab much as a school-boy ever did;" and soon a 
rumor reached him that the British, after landing at 
Staten Island, had marched to Elizabethtown. It 
proved to be an exaggeration, and he wrote to his wife — 
" I much commend the coolness and presence of mind 
with which you received the alarm." A concentration 
of American troops in ISTew Jersey presently tended to 
the safety of the Livingston country-seat. 

Peter Jay the elder wrote this year to his son from 
Rye — " When you write to Sally, remember our love to 
her, and that she must every day give your little boy 
(Peter Augustus) a hearty embrace for us. We long to 
see them both again here, but despair of its being soon, 
in these unhappy times. I am, dear Johnny, your affec- 
tionate father." Later, Mr. Jay thought it best to send 
his wife and son to Fishkill for greater safety, and the 
family from Rye removed also to the same place. 
Among the pleasant country-seats where Mrs. Jay 
passed a part of her time was Mrs. Livingston's, at 
Rhinebeck; and Mr. Jay, in writing to her at this place, 
12th of September, 1778, remarks — " As I always wish 
you to be with me, I hope an opportunity will soon 
offer, though I confess I am the less anxious, as you can't 
fail of being happy in so agreeable a family." In 
December of the same year, after Mr. Jay's election as 
President of Congress, his wife wrote him — u I had the 
pleasure of finding by the newspapers that you are hon- 
ored with the first office on the continent. * " :< " * * 
Had you consulted me, as some men have their wives 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 47 

about public measures, I should not have been Roman 
matron enough to have given you so entirely to the 
public." 

Notwithstanding this disclaimer of Roman heroism, 
Mrs. Jay's letters, during the most gloomy and anxious 
periods of the war, show the cheerfulness with which 
the patriotic women of the day, however carefully nur- 
tured, endured the trials and privations demanded by 
their country. During this year, the fashionable gayeties 
which the war had interrupted were resumed at Phila- 
delphia, after its occupation by General Howe. The 
British officers devoted themselves to amusements, enact- 
ing plays three times a week — the drop-curtain having 
been painted by Major Andre. It was wittily said, that 
"it was not Howe who had taken Philadelphia, but 
Philadelphia which had captured Howe." A more 
moderate cheerfulness was found at times in the Amer- 
ican camp ; and Miss Kitty Livingston, writing from 
Raritan, General Greene's quarters, February 22, 1779, 
to Mr. Jay, at Philadelphia, says : " Your favorite 
beauty, Miss Helena Morris, is sitting by me, and desires 
her compliments. * * * It is very gay at camp, at 
present. The Troy, the Princeton, and the Baskenridge 
beauties are all here." 

Mrs. Jay writes the same month, from Persipiney, 
of a grand dinner and entertainment at General Knox's 
head-quarters, with fireworks ; and a note dated March 
11th, announcing " four approaching marriages in Cousin 
Livingston's family," shows that the war at that moment 



48 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

interrupted but slightly the old order of events. These 
gayeties, however, were exceptional. 

On the 10th of October, 1779, Mr. Jay, having been 
appointed Minister to Spain, sailed in the Congressional 
frigate, The Confederacy, accompanied by Mrs. Jay, her 
brother, Colonel Brockholst Livingston, afterwards a 
judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, as his 
private secretary, and by Mr. Carmichael, a member of 
Congress, as his public secretary. 

On the 7th of November, the vessel was disabled by 
a sudden gale, and a letter from Mrs. Jay to her mother 
gives a graphic sketch of their troubles; within a half 
hour, she writes — " We had been deprived of nothing less 
than our bowsprit, foremast, main-mast, and mizzen-mast, 
so that we were in an awkward situation, rendered still 
more so by a pretty high southeast wind and a very 
rough sea. However, our misfortunes were only begun. 
The injury received by our rudder the next morning 
served to complete them. * * * 

"Let my dear mamma imagine the dangerous situa- 
tion of more than three hundred souls, tossed about in 
the midst of the ocean in a vessel dismasted and under 
no command, at a season, too, that threatened approach- 
ing inclemency of weather." 

By the aid of a temporary mast constructed of spars 
the frigate reached St. Pierre, on the north side of Mar- 
t'nico, on the 18th of December, narrowly escaping 
capture from a fleet of six English ships of the line off 



MKS. JOHN JAY. 49 

Port Royal, on the south side of the island, for which 
some of the passengers had wished the captain to steer. 

At St. Pierre they were received with warm hospi- 
tality, and the Governor placed at their service the 
French frigate Aurora, in which they embarked for 
Toulon, on the 28th of December. 

The Aurora was chased by a British man-of-war, and 
cleared for action, but outsailed her pursuer, and put 
into Cadiz for intelligence. It was found that the naval 
superiority of the enemy in the Mediterranean was so 
great as to render it unsafe for her to proceed to Toulon. 

At Cadiz they received every attention from Count 
O'Reilly, the Governor of Andalusia, who invited them 
to his house, and treated them with great cordiality. 
Hence they proceeded to Madrid, where they lived for a 
time in the Street of St. Mattes, near St. Barbary, the 
former residence of the Saxon minister. 

Of the many letters written to them by their friends 
in America, but a small number came safely to hand, 
some being captured by hostile cruisers, and others 
arrested by the Spanish post-office. Dispatches rarely 
reached them safely except by Government cruisers or 
private hands. 

Extracts from a few of them may here be interesting, 
as illustrative of the character of their writers and of 
persons and events at home. 

Governor Livingston, Trenton, 17th of March, 1780, 
wrote to Mr. Jay, at Madrid : — 

3 



50 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

" Heaven grant that you, and all the cargo shipped on board the 
Confederacy, in which I have so great an interest, may be safely 
arrived at Madrid before this reaches that metropolis. I have suf- 
fered much for poor Mrs. Jay, though I have been greatly com- 
forted to hear that she bore the terrors of the ocean with so much, 
magnanimity. Her letters from Martinique are safely arrived." 

Mr. Jay from Ilfonso wrote, 18th of September, to 

Miss C. Livingston : — 

" You are really a charming correspondent, as well as a charm- 
ing every thing else. "We have more letters from you than from 
all our friends in America put together. I often wish you with us 
for our sakes, and as often am content that you are not, for yours. 
"We go on. however, tolerably well, flattering ourselves that we 
shall not be long absent, and anticipating the pleasures we are to 
enjoy on our return; among them, that of your being again with 
us is, I assure you, not the least." 

Trenton, April 26, 1780, Miss Kitty Livingston wrote 
to Mrs. Jay, at Madrid : — 

"My Dear Sister: — 

" Last Monday I left Philadelphia, under the escort of General 
Schuyler, Mr. Mathews, and Mr. Peabody, the committee from Con- 
gress to General "Washington. ******* 

"Mr. "Witherspoon is establishing your character for the great- 
est philosopher of the age. You would have saved me, and all 
your friends, no small degree of uneasiness, had you mentioned in 
your letter to mamma (and that is all that lias reached us of your 
whole family) how little you had been affected with the accident 
and other disagreeable circumstances attending your voyage. * * 

" The minister, Don Juan, and M. Marbois, are on their 
return from camp. He contributed not a little to the pleasure 
of Philadelphia last winter, and is much esteemed there. He is 
one of the best and most cheerful tempers in the world." 

Again, May 23, 1780 :— 

"Lady Mary and Mr. "Watts have rented Mrs. Montgomery's 
farm for two years. Cousin Nancy Browne is one of their family. 



MBS. JOHN JAY. 51 

Colonel Lewis has purchased a house in Albany ; one of the girls 
lives there with Gittey. He and Robert have each presented 
Cousin Livingston with a grand-daughter. The Chancellor's is a 
remarkably fine child. Mrs. L. never looked so well as she did the 
last winter, and was much admired in Philadelphia. She and Mrs. 
Morris were inseparable. She was also a first favorite of Mr. Mor- 
ris. His esteem I think very flattering. Robert is in Congress, 
and I believe is at present there. She is to accompany him in the 
fall. General and Mrs. Schuyler are at Morristown. The General 
is one of the three that compose a committee from Congress. They 
expect to be with the army all summer. Mrs. Schuyler returns to 
Albany when the campaign opens. 

"Apropos, Betsey Schuyler is engaged to our friend Colonel 
Hamilton. She has been at Morristown, at Dr. Cochrane's, since 
last February. Morristown continues to be very lively. The fate 
of Charlestown still depending — and Mrs. P. is said to be making a 
match with her daughter and her husband's brother. She has 
absolutely refused to let her go to her relations, and to let her 
choose a guardian. Colonel Burr and she are not on speaking 
terms." 

In July, 1780, she writes to Mrs. Jay : — 

" Do you know I am trading on your stock of firmness; and if 
you are not possessed of as much as I suppose you to have I shall 
become bankrupt, having several wagers depending that you will 
not paint nor go to plays on Sundays. The Chevalier is not to be 
convinced that he has lost his bet till Mr. Carmichael informs him 
you do not use paint. Mr. Witherspoon informs me that he was 
questioned by many, at Martinique, if you did not. (Mrs. Jay had 
a most brilliant complexion.) Mr. Bingham makes very honorable 
mention of you and Mr. Jay to your friends at Philadelphia. 

" In our last distresses from the invasion of the British troops, 
Mr. and Mrs. Morris sent for me to come and live with them. It 
was exceedingly friendly ; and it is certainly no small alleviation to 
our infelicities to have such friends as can feel for us, and'by their 
kind endeavors soothe our troubled bosoms to peace and tran- 
quillity. They have at present a delightful situation — Springsberry. 
Mr. Morris has enlarged the buildings and converted the green- 



52 QUEENS OF AMEEICAN SOCIETY. 

house into a dining-room, which far exceeds their expectations in 
beauty and convenience." 

Mrs. Jay, writing from Madrid, December 1, 1780, in 
reply to this letter : — 

" The bets depending between you and the Chevalier I hope are 
considerable, since you are certainly entitled to the stake, for I 
have not used any false coloring, nor have I amused myself with 
plays or any other diversions on Sundays." 

Mrs. Morris wrote from New Jersey to Mrs. Jay, 
September 6, 1780 :— 

a Yesterday we were informed from camp of the death of your 
cousin, William Alexander Livingston, who received his de'ath 
from a Mr. Steaks, in a duel. Also, was buried at the same time, 
in like circumstances, a Mr. Peyton, from Virginia. You may 
judge how fashionable dueling is grown, when we have had five 
in one week, and one of them so singular that I cannot forbear 
mentioning it. It happened between two Frenchmen, who were 
to stand at a certain distance, and, marching up, were to fire when 
they pleased. One fired and missed, the other reserving his till he 
had placed his pistol on his antagonist's forehead, who had just 
time to say, 'Ah, Mon Dieu, pardonnez-moi !' at the same time 
bowing, whilst the pistol went off, and did no other mischief than 
singeing a few of his hairs." 

Susan Livingston wrote in October, from Rhinebeck, 
to Mrs. Jay : — 

" I ought to conclude, and beware the third page, as they say a 
woman can't write more than two pages without scandal. You 
must be more or less than woman, for you have written thirteen 
pages without scandal — witness your letter that we call the Con- 
federacy." 

" We are in such high spirits about our public affairs that I 
must tell you a little about it." 

The letter then (rives an account of a brilliant naval 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 53 

victory, and their hope of hearing presently of the sur- 
render of Lord Cornwallis. 

Mrs. Robert Morris wrote from Philadelphia, July 
12, 1781, to Mrs. Jay :— 

"Kitty and myself often avail ourselves of the pleasure memory 
affords us, in the recollection of the many happy days spent to- 
gether in this city. The Chevalier de la Luzerne, M. de Marbois, 
and Mr. Holker, expect great pleasure at your remembrance of 
them, and request your acceptance of their best wishes. The 
Chevalier acquiesces in the loss of his bet, presented Kitty with a 
handsome dress cap, accompanied with a note acknowledging your 
firmness. Mr. Morris's friends here, and, indeed, all who know 
him, were exceedingly shocked at his irreparable misfortune — the 
loss of his leg. * * * I never knew an individual more sympa- 
thized with." 

During a part of the time, Mr. Jay was compelled to 
follow the court to Ilfonso, and leave his wife behind, 
attended by his youthful nephew, Peter Jay Munro, of 
whom Mr. Jay wrote to his father, " Peter has masters 
both for his head and heels." Mrs. Jay writes, 24th 
April, " "We have had a charming winter — clear, mild, 
sunshine almost every day;" but of her sketches of 
society in Madrid we have no note. Her sister Susan, 
referring to the new circles around her, writes, July 18, 
1787 :— 

"I wonder whether my dear sister appears as sweet, amiable, 
and beautiful to the signoras as she does to her own countryfolks." 

Mrs. Jay's person, conversation, and character at this 

period were thus alluded to by Mrs. Janet Montgomery, 

in a letter to Mrs. Mercy Warren : — 

" You speak of my dear friend, Mrs. Jay. We have heard from 
her at Hispaniola, where she was obliged to put in after the storm, 



54 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

in winch she had like to be taken. When she arrives at Paris I 
expect to hear from her ; if in the descriptive way, it shall be en- 
tirely at your service. She is one of the most worthy women I 
know ; has a great fund of knowledge, and makes use of most 
charming language; added to this, she is very handsome, which 
wUl secure her a welcome with the unthinking, whilst her under- 
standing will gain her the hearts of the most worthy. Her man- 
ners will do honor to our countrywomen, and I really believe will 
please, even at the Court of Madrid." 

Mrs. Montgomery evidently thought, as did the 
Americans generally, that Spain was about to recognize 
our independence and lend us the assistance we required. 
She did neither the one nor the other. The little money 
she loaned us was given grudgingly, and with the at- 
tempt to attach unreasonable, if not impossible, con- 
ditions to her grants. As Mr. Jay declined to accept 
the courtesies of the Court, except as the minister of an 
independent nation, it is probable that Mrs. Jay never 
appeared at the Royal assemblies. 

Of the characteristics of Mrs. Jay's personal appear- 
ance, glimpses are occasionally given in the family cor- 
respondence. In March, 1776, her husband, describing 
a very beautiful country-girl whom Colonel Morris and 
he had met at an inn near Gray's Ferry, and who, 
from her exquisite complexion, they had called " the 
conch-shell beauty," said : " Her teeth were as good, 
and her eyes of the same color and almost as fine as 
those of my fair correspondent. Colonel Morris thought 
she bore a great resemblance to the lady who will 
open this letter, and I assure you his opinion was not 
ill-founded." 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 55 

Nearly twenty years afterwards, in April, 1794, Mr. 
Jay, then Chief Justice, writing to his wife, and referring 
to her eyes, says : " Tell me if they are as bright as 
ever." 

Lady Strangford, nee Philipse, a cousin of Mrs. Jay, 
with whom she had been intimate, and whose husband 
had married her when in orders, and had afterwards 
succeeded to the title, occasionally corresponded with 
Mrs. Jay in after years, sending her souvenirs of affection 
— in one case a ring, and in another a cross. Although 
her father was a tory, and his estate at Philipsburgh 
had been confiscated, Lady Strangford retained a touch- 
ing devotion to America. 

" I have," she writes, in a letter from England, " a 
warm and affectionate regard for every thing American ; 
and though fate has rendered me stationary here, my 
own dear country can never be forgotten by me." In 
another, she says : " Though so long departed from 
America, I have the liveliest attachment to whatever 
relates to it, and feel inexpressibly interested in its wel- 
fare. And now one word of my girls. They are both 
good and handsome as I could wish, and my eldest is 
particularly elegant. I fancy her, my dear cousin, very 
like you in feature and complexion." 

Congress having associated Mr. Jay with Dr. Frank- 
lin, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Laurens, in a commission to 
negotiate a peace, Dr. Franklin requested his presence 
in Paris ; and on the 23d of June, 17S2, after a tedious 
journey from Madrid, Mrs. Jay, with her husband and 



56 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

child, arrived at the Capital. The Doctor had written 
in April, " Let me know by a previous line if yon con- 
clude to come, and if, as I hope, Mrs. Jay will accom- 
pany yon, that I may provide for yon proper lodgings." 
Their first quarters were in the Hotel d'Orleans, Hue 
des Petits Augustines, where the Commissioners fre- 
quently assembled ; and again at Passy, where they 
lived with Dr. Franklin, in a mansion which is still 
standing, and occupied as a pension for girls. Once 
again, in November, 1783, they removed to a house, a 
very charming one, from Mrs. Jay's description of it, at 
Chaillot " sur la Chaussee de Versailles, pres de la Car- 
riere de la Conference." 

Earely has the French capital, during its checkered 
history, been more the centre of interest to Europe 
and to the world. The peace between America and 
England, of which Franklin and Jay were to arrange 
the preliminaries— of their associates, Adams being in 
Holland, Jefferson in America, and Laurens in London, 
just released from the Tower — was the initial step 
towards a peace between England and Holland ; and to 
those who did not dream of the dark shadow gathering 
over France, it must have seemed an auspicious omen 
for the young Republic of the New "World, that its birth 
was to restore, on sea and land, the broken repose of the 
older nations. 

Did our space permit, we should be tempted to blend 
with this sketch something more than a mere glance at 
the historic memories of the period connected with the 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 57 

peace negotiations, in which Mrs. Jay was almost a par- 
ticipant, from her intimate association with the negotia- 
tors, who frequently met at her apartments. There is 
no page certainly in our foreign diplomacy to which the 
intelligent American reader will ever recur with more 
national pride and interest than that which records the 
progress and result of these negotiations, in view of the 
fact that the American Commissioners began their work 
fettered by the resolution of Congress peremptorily in- 
structing them to take no step without the knowledge 
and concurrence of the French ministers, and to be gov- 
erned by their opinion and advice. 

The illness of Dr. Franklin threw the chief responsi- 
bility upon Jay, and the first advice given by the French 
minister, that they should treat under a British Commis- 
sion that recognized us not as an independent nation, 
but as British colonies or plantations, decided Jay to 
disregard, from that moment, the order of Congress, as 
no longer applicable to the situation. Promptly acting 
on this resolution, without further consultation with the 
French Court, he demanded, as indispensable, a new 
commission ; to which the British Cabinet consented, 
allowing Jay to dictate its form. 

The importance to England of a definite settlement 
with her late colonies in advance of her final negotia- 
tion with the European allies, gave to the American 
Commissioners a position of advantage, to which Jay's 
sternness and resolution, backed by the approval of 
Adams and Franklin, gave immense strength. The 



58 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

terms they demanded relating to the fisheries, the Mis- 
sissippi, and the boundaries, while of immense impor- 
tance to the United States, were regarded, under the 
circumstances, as of minor significance by the English 
ministry in their settlement of the European question ; 
and such was the address and decision of the American 
Commissioners, that they obtained all they demanded, 
and far more than they had dared to hope for. 

The preliminary articles were signed on the 20th of 
January, 1783. On the 3d of September, when France 
and Spain had settled their respective terms, the defini- 
tive treaties were signed, and Count de Yergennes enter- 
tained the diplomatists at a grand dinner at Yersailles. 
On this conclusion of a general peace, England, France, 
Spain, and Holland, by a series of mutual concessions, 
on the principle of restitution and compromise, returned 
in great part to the statu quo. The United States alone, 
which, in the view of England and France, had entered 
the council-chamber as English " colonies or planta- 
tions," whose independence was to be granted by treaty 
stipulation, and which, to their surprise, had refused to 
take the first step except as a sovereign nation, and 
on an equal footing, came forth from that chamber en- 
dowed with the fisheries, the Mississippi, and a vast 
extent of territory to the north, the west, and the south, 
whose cession quieted forever all rival claims from Can- 
ada, France, or Spain, and gave to the infant Kepublic 
boundaries imperial in their grandeur. 

In America, no one had ventured to hope for bouu- 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 59 

daries so magnificent. Governor Livingston wrote to 
Jay, Burlington, 20th of May, 1783, " The treaty is uni- 
versally applauded." Hamilton wrote to him " The 
ISTew England people talk of making you an annual fish- 
offering ;" and John Adams said, of the title of " Le 
Washington de la Negociation," which had been be- 
stowed upon him, " I sincerely think that it belongs to 
Mr. Jay." Years later, Mr. Adams, when President, 
wrote to Mr. Jay (November 21, 1800), "Among the 
very few truths in a late pamphlet, there is one that I 
shall ever acknowledge with pleasure, viz., ' that the 
principal merit of the negotiations for peace was Mr. 
Jay's.' " 

More than half a century after the negotiations, the 
British Minister, Mr. Fitzherbert, who had become Lord 
St. Helens, after reading the life of Jay, wrote : " I can 
safely add my testimony * * * that it was not only 
chiefly, but solely, through his means that the negotia- 
tions of that period, between England and Erance, were 
brought to a successful conclusion." 

Mrs. Jay wrote to Mr. Jay, January 21, the day 

after the signing of the provisional articles : — 

"I long, my dear, to embrace you now as a deliverer of our 
country, as well as .an affectionate and tender husband." 

The scenes and the society amid which Mrs. Jay 
lived for nearly two years, presented a brilliant contrast 
to the trials and hardships to which she had been sub- 
jected by the war at home, as well as to her more 
retired life durinjr their residence at Madrid. 



60 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Mr. Jay's health having become impaired, he went 
for a while to England, to try the Bath waters ; and on 
his return, in January, 1784, with improved health and 
spirits, the last months of their stay in Paris were 
devoted to the enjoyment of its polished society. 

History has made us familiar with the Paris of that 
period ; so interesting, as presenting the last pictures 
of the pride and splendor that were still unconscious of 
the impending revolution. Marie Antoinette, now in 
her twenty-ninth year, still justified by her grace and 
beauty the magnificent apostrophe of Burke. In a 
letter to Mrs. Kobert Morris, 14th of November, 1782, 
Mrs. Jay thus describes the Queen — after whom was 
named one American town, Marietta, in Ohio : — 

She is so handsome, and her manners are so engaging, that, 
almost forgetful of Eepublican principles, I was ready, while in her 
presence, to declare her born to be a queen. There are, however, 
many traits in her character worthy of imitation, even by Repub- 
licans; and I cannot but admire her resolution to superintend the 
education of Madame Royale, her daughter, to whom she has 
allotted chambers adjoining her own, and persists in refusing to 
name a governess for her. The Duchess of Polignac is named for 
that office to the Dauphin. I have just been interrupted by a visit 
from the Princess Mazarin, who informed me that the Count 
d'Artois was expected here in eight days hence, and the Prince, 
her husband, soon after; so that I conjecture the siege of Gibraltar 
is to be abandoned." 

The fantasies of fashion, says a court historian, re- 
vealed the spirit of France as capricious and changeable. 
The queen and her intimate friends, especially the Com- 
tesse Diane de Polignac and the Marquise de Vaudrienne, 



MRS. JOHN" JAY. 61 

changed the mode day bj day. The women wore the 
hair most fantastically raised in a pyramid, and this high 
edifice was crowned with flowers, as if it were a garden. 
Mrs. Jay wrote to Mrs. Morris : — 

"At present the prevailing fashions are very decent and very 
plain; the gowns most worn are the rohes a. l'Anglaise, which are 
exactly like ye Italian habits that were in fashion in America when 
I left it ; the Sultana is also a la mode, but it is not expected that 
it will long remain so. Every lady makes them of slight silk. 
There is so great a variety of hats, caps, cuffs, &c, that it's impos- 
sible to describe them. I forgot that the robe a l'Anglaise, if 
trimmed either with the same or gauze, is dress; but if untrimmed 
must be worn with an apron, and is undress. Negligees are very 
little in vogue. Fans of eight or ten sous are almost the only ones 
in use. 

" At the Marquis de la Fayette's table I had the pleasure of 
hearing you, my dear Mrs. Morris, mentioned in terms the most 
grateful imaginable." 

Among the first to congratulate Mrs. Jay on her 
arrival at Paris were the Marquis and the Marchioness 
de la Fayette. A note from the Marquis bears date the 
25th June, and the Marchioness offers to Mrs. Jay her 
"tender homage." Some two years later, on leaving 
Paris, Mr. Jay wrote to la Fayette : " I shall never think 
of France without recollecting your friendly attention 
to Americans and American affairs." 

The two circles of society where Mrs. Jay was entirely 
at home in Paris were those which were to be found in 
the hotels of la Fayette and Franklin. 

" La Fayette and his companions had left the coun- 
try," says the author of Memoirs of Marie Antionette, 
" Frenchmen, but came back Americans. They set out 



62 QUEENS OP AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

in quest of danger and military glory only, but brought 
back systems and patriotic enthusiasm. They appeared 
again at court, boasting of the scars and wounds received 
in the cause of liberty, and wearing with their dress the 
emblems of republican decorations." 

This feeling was not confined solely to France. 
"While the princes of Germany lent themselves to the 
purposes of Great Britain, the better mind of Germany 
sympathized with the American people, and our rising 
empire was not altogether overlooked in the thought of 
Goethe, Lessing, Schiller, and Kant. 

The acquaintanceship of Mrs. Jay and Madame de 
la Fayette soon ripened into friendship, and their letters 
are marked by a tone of sincere regard and affection, and 
indicate a degree of intimacy between these youthful 
mothers closer than that which usually characterized the 
courtly circle that lent brilliancy to the Hotel de Noailles. 
The kind devotion of Madame de la Fayette to Mrs. Jay 
was extended to her children, and in the invitations to 
dinner the latter was sometimes prayed to bring Made- 
moiselle, her daughter (Maria), to see Madame de la 
Fayette's little family. Mrs. Jay's letters in reply refer 
gracefully " to the pleasure it will give her daughter to 
wait upon the charming little Miss Virginia. " There is 
reason to believe that both enjoyed these domestic scenes 
more than the salon where they were surrounded by the 
elegance, wit, and beauty of the ancient regime, whose 
splendor was presently to disappear forever. 



MRS. JOHX JAY. 63 

Miss Adams, the daughter of John Adams, writing 
from Paris in 1785, said : — 

"Every person who knew her when here bestows many enco- 
miums upon Mrs. Jay. Madame de la Fayette said she was well 
acquainted with her and very fond of her, adding that Mrs. Jay 
and she thought alike, that pleasure might be found abroad, but 
happiness only at home, in the society of one's family and friends." 

Among the souvenirs presented by Madame de la 
Fayette to Mrs. Jay were two arm-chairs, embroidered 
by her own hands. One of these is now in the possession 
of Mrs. Henry E. Pierrepont, of Brooklyn, a grand- 
daughter of Mrs. Jay. 

Did space permit, we might give some interesting 
extracts from Mrs. Jay's correspondence with her hus- 
band while in England and her friends in America. 
One of his first letters from London says : " The doctor 
advises me to be as idle as possible, but so agreeable an 
employment as that of writing to you can hardly be a 
trespass on that injunction." Another, dated Bath, 22d 
December, gives an account of the celebrated Lady Hunt- 
ington, her chapel, and its fine music, her cheerful con- 
versation and pleasant recollections of Lord Bolingbroke, 
Lord Bath, Lord Bathurst, Lord Chesterfield, Pope, and 
other celebrities of her earlier years. 

To Dr. Franklin, now in his seventy-sixth year, Mrs. 
Jay was indebted for uniformly kind attentions ; and if 
the circle she met at the Hotel de Noailles was marked 
by its aristocracy of rank, that which surrounded the 
venerable philosopher at Passy was no less celebrated 



64 QUEENS OF AMERICAN" SOCIETY. 

for happily blending the choicest and most opposite 
elements of the world of learning, wit, and fashion. 
Retaining, at that advanced age, a singular gayety and 
spirit, having lost, according to Mr. Adams, neither his 
love of beauty nor his taste in judging of it, he was con- 
stantly surrounded by savans, statesmen, and sprightly 
women, who flocked to pay their affectionate homage to 
the " Sage," as JVIirabeau afterwards apostrophized him, 
"whom two worlds alike claimed, and for whom the 
history of science and the history of empires were dis- 
puting." The Paris of that day teemed with celebri- 
ties ; among whom to Franklin, as the philosopher who 
had snatched the lightning from heaven and the sceptre 
from tyrants, the historians of the period assign the first 
place. 

There was Mesmer, with his fascinating doctrine of 
the influence of the planets and the mysterious harmo- 
nies of ideas and forms, censured by the Academy, but 
pojyular in the salon. There were Lavoisier, exciting 
wonder by his application of chemistry ; BufFon, the 
naturalist ; Bailly, the astronomer ; Legendre, the math- 
ematician ; and Darcet, the chemist. There was Gui- 
llotin, the philanthropic physician to the king, who, to 
alleviate the horrors of capital punishment, recommend- 
ed the use of the machine which has perpetuated his 
name in connection with scenes which cannot be recalled 
without a shudder. There was Cagliostro, with his 
filters, talismans, and amulets, exhibiting, in the lan- 
guage of a French chronicler, an audacity that only 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 65 

superstition could authorize. There was Montgolfier, 
with his balloons, creating, on his first ascension, a furor 
of excitement ; and Jean G-aspar Lavater, the youthful 
pastor of Zurich, calm and reflective, the author of 
sacred songs and Helvetique chants, challenging the 
admiration of the world by deducing traits of character 
from the physiognomy. The painters of the period in- 
cluded Greuze, Yernet, Doyen, Menageot, David, and 
Le Brun ; and the musicians, Mozart, Gretry, Delaysac, 
and Gluck. 

There seems to have been a theatre, and a good one, 
at Passy, for Mrs. Jay writes, in 1782, " The queen has 
recently returned to ^Versailles, after a residence of eight 
or ten weeks at Passy. While there, I used sometimes 
to have the pleasure of seeing her at the plays." 

Among the more intimate friends of Franklin were 
Turgot, the Abbe Raynal, Rochefoueault, Cabanes, Le 
Roy, Mabley, Mirabeau, D'Holbach, Marmontel, Neckar, 
Malesherbes, Watelet, and Mesdames de Genlis, Denis, 
Helvetius, Brillon, and La Reillard. 

Such were the types of the brilliant circle that sur- 
rounded the Doctor's table or enlivened his evenings, 
and for their benefit he kept a printing-press in his 
house, for the convenient circulation among them of his 
" bagatelles." Of his genial, pleasant humor, his letters 
and those of Mrs. Jay afford abundant evidence. One 
of them (June 18, 1780), sending his portrait to Mrs. 
Jay at Madrid, thus pleasantly refers to his own celeb- 
rity :— 



66 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

" Mrs. Jay does me much honor in desiring to have one of the 
prints that Lave been made here of her countryman. I send what 
has been said to be the best of five or six, engraved by different 
hands from different paintings. The verses at the bottom are truly 
extravagant. But you must know that the desire of pleasing by a 
perpetual use of compliments in this polite nation has so used up 
all the common expressions of approbation that they have become 
flat and insipid, and to' use them almost implies censure. Hence, 
music, that formerly might be sufficiently praised when it was 
called lonne, to go a little farther, they called excellente, then 
superhe, magnifique, exquisite, celeste, all which being in their turn 
worn out, there remains only divine, and when that is grown as 
insufficient as its predecessors, I think they must return to common 
speech and common sense, as from vying with one another in fine 
and costly paintings on their coaches, since I first knew the 
country, not being able to go further in that way, they have 
returned lately to plain carriages, painted without arms or figures, 
in one uniform color."* 

Here is one of the Doctor's little notes : — 

"Dr. Franklin regrets exceedingly that his health does not 
permit the honor and pleasure of waiting upon Mr. and Mrs. Jay, 
according to their obliging invitation. 

"He hopes Mr. and Mrs. Jay will condescend to indemnify him 
for the loss he sustains, by honoring him with their company at 
dinner on Saturday next. The Doctor would be happy to see Mr. 
Munro at the same time. Passy, 9th October, 1782." 

Mrs. Jay's almost romantic devotion to her husband 
could hardly escape notice and comment in the Parisian 
circles, where she was known as " la belle Ainericaine ;" 
and an incident to which it led on one occasion, in an 
assemblage at Passy, interesting from its connection 
with the Doctor's development of magnetism, and charm- 

* Another of the Doctor's presents to Mrs. Jay — a tea-kettle of Sevres 
china — is preserved in the family of Dr. John C. Jay, at Rye. 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 67 

ingly illustrative of the man, is thus related in a letter 
from Mrs. Jay at Chaillot to Mr. Jay at Bath, Novem- 
ber 18, 1783 :— 

"Dr. Franklin charges me to present you his compliments, 
whenever I write to you, but forbids my telling you how much 
pains he takes to excite my jealousy at your stay. Tbe other 
evening, at Passy, he produced several pieces of steel ; tbe one he 
supposed you, at Cbaillot, which, being placed near another piece, 
Avhich was to represent me, it was attracted by that, and presently 
united ; but when drawn off from me, and nearer another piece, 
which the Doctor called an English lady, behold, the same effect ! 
The company enjoyed it much, and urged me to revenge ; but all 
could not shake my confidence in my beloved friend. The Doctor 
has just sent me word that he'll drink tea with me this evening, 
notwithstanding the storm." 

An extract from Mr. Jay's reply to this letter is, in 

its turn, characteristic. He writes to Mrs. Jay from 

Bath :— 

" It gives me pleasure to hear that our friend the Doctor is in 
such good spirits. Though his magnets love society, they are never- 
theless true to the pole, and in that I hope to resemble them." 

A letter from Mrs. Jay to her husband, a few days 
later, dated Chaillot, 2d of December, gives a full 
description of the first ascent, at Paris, by Messrs. 
Charles and Robert, of Montgolfier's, balloon, which cre- 
ated a great sensation. It landed some nine leagues 
distant, and the Dukes of Chartres and Fitz James, fol- 
lowing by relays, arrived in time for its descent. The 
letter closes thus : — 

"If I had four balloons to make a Mercury of a common mes- 
senger, you should not be twenty-four hours without hearing 
f sin us." 



68 QUEENS OF AMERICAN - SOCIETY. 

After Mrs. Jay's return to America, Dr. Franklin's 
letters show the strong attachment he had conceived for 
her and her children. He wrote to Mrs. Jay from 
Passy, 8th of February, 1785 : — 

" I received, by the Marquis de la Fayette, your kind letter of 
the 13th of December. It gave me pleasure on two accounts, as it 
informed me of the public welfare and that of your, I may almost 
say our, dear little family, for since I had the pleasure of their 
being with me in the same house I have ever felt a tender affection 
for them, equal, I believe, to that of most fathers." 

Again, the Doctor writes to Jay, at New York, from 
Passy, 10th of May, acknowledging the resolution of 
Congress permitting his return : — " Next to the pleasure 
of rejoining niy own family will be that of seeing you 
and yours well and happy, and embracing my little 
friend,* whose singular attachment to me I shall always 
remember. Be pleased to make my respectful compli- 
ments acceptable to Mrs. Jay, and believe me ever, with 
sincere and great respect and esteem, &c." 

After Franklin's return to America, Jay welcomed 
him in a cordial letter. He says, in reference to the 
Doctor's proposed visit to New York : — 

"Mrs. Jay is exceedingly pleased with this idea, and sincerely 
joins with me in wishing to see it realized. Her attachments are 
very strong, and that to you being founded on esteem, and the 
recollection of kind offices, is particularly so. I suspect your little 
friend has forgotten your name. Your name is familiar to her, as 
indeed it will be to every generation." 

Soon after, Mr. Jay left his wife at Passy, attended 

* Maria, afterwards Mrs. Banyar. 



MKS. JOHN JAY. 69 

t>y his nephew, P. J. Munro, in order that he might try 
the Bath waters, she moved her little family to the 
house at Chaillot, which Mr. Jay had engaged for her, 
and she thus describes it in a letter to him, November 6, 
1783 :— 

"Everybody that sees the house is surprised it has so long 
remained unoccupied. It is so gay, so lively, that I am sure you'll 
he pleased. Yesterday the windows were open in my cabinet while 
I was dressing, and it was even then too warm. Dr. Franklin and 
his grandsons, and Mr. and Mrs. Coxe and the Miss Walpoles drank 
tea with me likewise this evening, and they all approve of your 
choice. As the sky is very clear and the moon shines very bright, 
we were tempted to walk from the saloon upon the terrace, and 
while the company were admiring my situation, my imagination 
was retracing the pleasing evenings that you and I have passed 
together in contemplating the mild and gentle rays of the moon." 

Mrs. Jay's family now embraced two daughters. 
Her husband, in announcing to his brother Frederick 
the birth of the last (26th of August, 1783), said : " She 
is to be baptized this morning, by the name of Anne. 
I wish we could as easily give her the virtues as the 
name of our amiable sister." 

Those who were so fortunate as to have known per- 
sonally the late Miss Anne Jay, or who are familiar 
with the extent of her charities and the beauty of her 
life, will not think that her father's wishes were unac- 
complished. 

We find a mention in one of Mrs. Jay's letters of 
having met at dinner, at the Marquis de la Fayette's, 
20th October, 1783, the younger Pitt, who, accompa- 



70 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

nied by Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Elliot, was making a 
hurried tour through, France. 

Governor Livingston writes to Mrs. Jay, from Eliza- 
bethtown, 8th of January, 1783 : — 

" I long to see yon both, and my dear little French grand- 
daughter Maria. My sweet little Peter is now standing at my 
elbow. He is really, and without flattering, one of the handsomest 
boys in the whole country." 

November 12th, Mrs. Jay, at Chaillot, writes to her 
husband, at Bath : — 

" I hope the weather is fine in England, for we have a most 
enchanting autumn here. You'll be pleased with our situation 
here when you return, for which I most ardently long, though I 
would not have you leave England until you have given it a fair 
trial. My little Nancy is a perfect cherub, without making the 
least allowance for a mother's partiality." 

Mrs. Jay left Paris with her husband and children 
for Dover on the 16th of May, 1784, and landed at New 
York on the 24th of July, after an absence of more than 
four years and a half. 

Mr. Jay had, the autumn before, written from Passy 
to his old friend, Peter Yan Schaick : " I have asked 
leave to become a simple citizen, and to return home 
next summer;" but Congress, having heard from Dr. 
Franklin of his anticipated return, appointed him, in 
advance of his arrival, to the office of Secretary for For- 
eign Affairs, which has been described as " unquestion- 
ably the most prominent and responsible civil office 
under the Confederation." There was then no President 
of the United States, and the Secretary had charge of the 



MRS. JOHJST JAY. 71 

whole foreign correspondence as well as of that between 
the General and State Governments. In this position, 
the entertaining of the foreign ministers, officers of Gov- 
ernment, members of Congress, and persons of distinc- 
tion, was an important incident, and Mrs. Jay's domestic 
duties assumed something of an official character. 

Her long residence near European courts, and her 
recent association with the brilliant circles of the French 
capital, assisted her to fill with ease the place she was 
now to occupy, and to perform its graceful duties in a 
manner becoming the dignity of the republic to whose 
fortunes she had been so devoted. 

We have no record relating to the entire period dur- 
ing which she presided over the entertainments given by 
her husband as Secretary for Foreign Affairs ; but by a 
happy chance her " Dinner and Supper List for 1787 
and '8 " has been preserved, and the names which the 
list furnishes, together with the memoranda afforded by 
occasional private correspondence, and the published 
notes of European travelers touching that interesting 
period, help to give a picture, that already possesses an 
historic interest, of the social circles of New York during 
its brief existence as the National capital under the 
Articles of Confederation, and for two sessions of the 
first Congress under the Constitution. 

The society of New York at that time, despite the 
comparative insignificance of the city in extent and pop- 
ulation, and all that it had suffered during the war, 
presented more strikingly than in after years, when 



72 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

domestic and foreign emigration had made it a common 
centre, those distinguished characteristics derived from 
its blended ancestry and colonial history, that are still 
discernible in the circles of the Knickerbockers, and 
which recall alike to Americans and Europeans the 
earlier traditions of the National metropolis. "While 
here and there might be found members of a family 
which, misled by mistaken convictions, had, during the 
war, sided with the mother country, or had timidly 
endeavored to preserve an inglorious neutrality, the 
tone of society was eminently patriotic, and worthy of 
the antecedents of an ancestry representing, in the words 
of an English historian, " the best stock of Europe who 
had sought homes in the Western World, and in whose 
forms of Government, charter, provincial and even pro- 
prietary, may be discerned the germs of a national lib- 
erty." With the culture and refinement of a class thus 
descended was blended that love of country which lends 
dignity to wealth and respectability to fashion. 

The bar of New York gave to the salons of the day 
a list of names never since surpassed in our juridical 
history, in James Duane, Richard Harrison, Aaron Burr, 
Alexander Hamilton, Morgan Lewis, Robert Troup, 
Robert R. Livingston, Egbert Benson, John Watts, 
Governeur Morris, Richard Yarick, James j^ansing, 
and Josiah Ogden Hoffman and James Kent, both in 
their youthful vigor, the last of whom had been admitted 
in 1785, and was just commencing the career that gave 
him while yet living a world-wide reputation. The 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 73 

Church furnished, of the Presbyterians, Dr. Rogers and 
Dr. John Mason ; and of the Dutch Reformed Church, 
Dr. John H. Livingston and Dr. William Linn. Among 
the Episcopal clergy, the chief was the "easy, good- 
tempered, gentlemanly, and scholarly Dr. Provoost, 
Bishop of New York — a chaplain of Congress, and a 
welcome guest at the dinner-table of his friends." The 
Doctor had been devoted to the American cause, and 
was in every respect a most estimable and agreeable 
person ; and, in addition to his classic, ecclesiastical, and 
Hebrew lore, he is said to have been familiar " with the 
Greek, Latin, French, German, and Italian languages." 
It is even affirmed that, as a literary recreation — and 
the circumstance seems more significant in view alike of 
his Episcopal duties and the times — he bad made a new 
poetical translation of Tasso. The medical profession 
was represented by Dr. Charlton, Dr. Samuel Bard, 
Dr. John Bard, Dr. Wright Post, Dr. Bailey, Dr. Kis- 
sam, and Dr. Jones. 

To the older families of New York mentioned in 
Mrs. Jay's invitation list, among whom were prominent 
those of Beekman, Bronson, Clinton, Clarkson, Cruger, 
Sterling, De Pej-ster, Livingston, Morris, Rutherford, 
Schuyler, Yan Horn, Yan Cortlandt, Yan Rensselaer, 
Yerplanck, and Watts, were now added, by the presence, 
first, of the Congress under the Confederation, and then 
under the Constitution, some of the most eminent of the 
statesmen and generals of " the old thirteen " who had 
helped to vindicate the independence and lay deep the 



74 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

foundation of the country. Among the names on Mrs. 
Jay's list may be found those of John Langdon, Paine, 
and ^Vmgate ; Roger Sherman and Benjamin Hunting- 
ton, of New England ; Elias Boudinot and Cadwallader, 
of New Jersey ; Robert Morris, George Read, of Penn- 
sylvania ; Charles Carroll, of Maryland ; Mr. Grayson, 
Theodoric Bland, and James Madison, of Virginia; 
Pierce Butler, Ralph Izard, Daniel Huger, and Thomas 
Tudor Tucker, of South Carolina ; and William Few, of 
Georgia. 

These gentlemen were, in many cases, accompanied 
by their families, representing in part the higher circles 
of New England, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the 
South ; and to these was added the small circle of diplo- 
mats accredited to the United States, and occasionally 
European travelers, attracted by the rising greatness of 
the young Republic. The letters of the day which have 
been preserved, both of Americans and Frenchmen, al- 
lude frequently to the grace, beauty, and attractiveness 
of many women then in society. Among them were 
Lady Mary "Watts and Lady Kitty Duer, daughters of 
Lord Stirling, and cousins of Mrs. Jay ; Mrs. Ralph 
Izard, grand-daughter of the Huguenot Etienne de 
Land ; Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, daughter of General 
Schuyler ; Mrs. Beekman (Miss James Kettletass) ; Mrs. 
Theodore Sedgwick (Miss Pamela Dwight) ; Miss Wol- 
cott, of Connecticut, afterwards Mrs. Chauncey Good- 
rich; and to New York came also, occasionally, the 
belles of other cities, especially of Philadelphia. Mrs 



MRS. JOHN JAY, 75 

Jay's dinners and receptions at this time are thus 
alluded to by Mrs. Wm. S. Smith, in a letter to her 
mother, Mrs. John Adams : — 

" Mrs. Jay gives a dinner almost every week, besides one to the 
corps diplomatique on Tuesday evening; Miss Von Berckel (daugh- 
ter of the Dutch Minister) and Lady Temple see company on 
Thursday ; Mrs. Jay, Mrs. De la Forest, the wife of the French 
Consul ; on Friday Lady Christiana, the Presidentess (of Congress) ; 
and on Saturdays, Mrs. Secretary ." 

Again, on the 20th of May, Mrs. Smith writes to her 
mother : — 

" Yesterday we dined at Mrs. Jay's, in company with the whole 
corps diplomatique. Mr. Jay is a most pleasing man, plain in his 
manners, but kind, affectionate, and attentive ; benevolence is 
stamped in every feature. Mrs. Jay dresses showily, but is very 
pleasing on a first acquaintance. The dinner was d la Francaise, 
and exhibited more of European taste than I expected to find." 

On referring to Mrs. Jay's list, it appears that the 
guests at the dinner referred to by Mrs. Smith on the 
20th of May, 1788, were as follows : — 

The President of Congress, Mr. Griffin ; Lady Chris- 
tiana Griffin, his wife, belonging to a noble family in 
Scotland ; Count de Moustier, the French Minister ; his 
sister, the Marchioness de Brehan ; Mr. Otto, afterwards 
Count de Mosloy, who had succeeded M. Marbois as 
Charge d' Affaires, and had married a Miss Livingston ; 
Comte de Brehan; Don Diego Gardoqui, the Spanish 
Minister ; M. Yon Berckel, the Dutch Minister ; his 
daughter, Miss Yon Berckel ; Sir John Temple, the 
British Consul General ; and Lady Temple, who was the 



76 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

daughter of Governor Bowdoin of Massachusetts ; Gen- 
eral Armstrong, Mr. Arthur Lee, Mr. and Lady Mary 
Watts, Mr. and Mrs. Watts, Mr. Bingham, Colonel Wil- 
liam S. Smith and Mrs. Smith, Mr. Daniel McCormick, 
Mr. Kean. 

Among the distinguished foreigners on Mrs. Jay's 
list, is found the name of M. Brissot de Warville, well 
known from his work on America, written on his return 
to Europe, and for his prominent and tragical connection 
with the Girondists of the French Revolution. He 
dined at her table on the 2d of September, 1788, with 
the following guests : — 

Mr. and Mrs. Pintard, Mr. and Mrs. Rufus King, Mr. 
and Mrs. Montgomery, Mr. and Miss Yon Berckel, Mr. 
Otis, Mr. Dane, Mr. Gerry, Mr. Sedgwick, Mr. Gilman, 
Mr. Wingate, Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. Huntington, M. de 
la Yalle, and M. de Saussure. 

M. Brissot de Warville had brought to Mr. Jay, 
from La Fayette, a letter commending him as a writer 
on the side of liberty, and as one of the founders of the 
society in behalf of the blacks ; and another from the 
Chevalier Burgoyne, the minister from Saxony to Paris. 
His character and life have been cleverly drawn ; among 
others, by Lord Brougham, and also by Grace and 
Philip Wharton, in their " Queens of Society," under the 
heading of his friend, the unfortunate Madame Poland. 

The inauguration, by the new Government, under 
ihe National Constitution, in the spring of 1789, was 
heralded by the arrival of Vice-President Adams, after 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 77 

an almost triumphal progress from Boston. He was 
conducted in state, by the civil dignitaries and military 
officers, through a multitude of people, to the house of 
John Jay, in the lower part of the city. 

On the 23d of March General Washington arrived, 
by the Bay, attended by the heads of departments, and 
escorted by a fleet of boats and sloops ; and in the even- 
ing the city was brilliantly illuminated, and there was 
a display of fire-works. On the 13th of April he was 
inaugurated, at Federal Hall. 

Mr. Jay's duties as Chief Justice carried him, this 
year, on the New England circuit, in the course of which, 
especially at Boston, he was received with cordial hos- 
pitality. 

A letter to him from Mrs. Jay gives a pleasant pic- 
ture of her home occupation, and a glimpse also of Mrs. 
Washington : — 

"Last Monday the President went to Long Island to pass a 
week there. On Wednesday, Mrs. Washington called upon me to go 
with her to wait upon Miss Von Berckel, and on Thursday morn- 
ing, agreeable to invitation, myself and the little girls took an early 
breakfast with her, and then went with her and her little grand- 
children to breakfast at General Morris's, Morrisania. "We passed 
together a very agreeable day, and on our return dined with her, 
as she would not take a refusal. After which I came home to 
dress, and she was so polite as to take coffee with me in the 
evening. * * * If you see Mrs. Langdon, pray thank her 
for her very polite attention. Governor Langdon was well last 
evening, when I was honored with his company." 

Another letter says : — " Our friends Mr. and Mrs. 
Hamilton left New York last Wednesday ; they dined 



78 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

with me on Sunday and Tuesday." Mrs. Jay mentions 
also having entertained Mrs. Iredell, her daughter, and 
Mr. and Mrs. Munro, and adds : — " My endeavor has 
been to show my affection for you by my attention to 
your friends." 

In the spring of 1784 Mrs. Jay suffered a trial in 
the separation from her husband, who was sent by "Wash- 
ington as special ambassador to England, where he nego- 
tiated with Lord Grenville the treaty which bears his 
name, and which subsequently encountered, at the hands 
of the Democratic party, a vigorous but unsuccessful 
opposition. 

Congress was sitting in Philadelphia when Mr. Jay 
advised his wife of the President's decision. Her 
reply, dated April, shows how deeply she was affected 
by it :— 

"The utmost exertion I can make is to be silent; excuse me if 
I have not philosophy. ' * * * Should you leave me I must 
entreat you to permit your son to accompany you. It would give 
him infinite pleasure and me great consolation. * * * 

"Adieu, my best beloved, absent or present, I am wholly 
yours. Sa. Jay." 

Another of her letters, about this time, closes: — 
" Farewell, my best beloved. Your wife till death, and 
after that a ministering spirit." 

Mr. Jay acceded to his wife's wish, and their son, 
Peter Augustus, then in his nineteenth year, accompa- 
nied his father. Soon after they had sailed, a violent 
storm occurred at ISTew York, to which Mrs. Jay thus 
alludes, in a letter dated the 2d of May : — 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 79 

" Oh, my dear Mr. Jay, how greatly do circumstances alter our 
ideas of things. I've known the time when in your company I 
have enjoyed a storm like this. At present I cannot, nor would I 
wish to describe the painful fancies it gives birth to. I know you 
disapprove the anticipation of evils, but indeed, my best of hus- 
bands, such a storm as this is enough to prostrate one's reason. 
At this season of the year it is so unusual. The poplars this morn- 
ing were on the ground, and the cherries, still unripe, were blown 
from the trees before the dining-room window into the stable-yard. 
Frank has raised the poplars. When I droop who shall raise me, 
if the wide ocean should swallow up my husband and child?" 

Mrs. Jay's letters to her husband, during his absence, 
are in great part devoted to his domestic affairs at home, 
of which she assumed the chief charge, assisted occasion- 
ally by his nephew, Peter Jay Munro. They are full, 
practical, and exact, giving the particulars of moneys 
paid in and reinvested, by the advice of friends, in the 
National Bank and stocks, with quotations of their rise, 
and the sale of lands, the progress of the mill and dam, 
then being built on the Jay estate at Bedford, and mat- 
ters of more minute importance, in which Mr. Jay was 
sure to feel an interest. 

In one of Mr. Jay's letters to his wife, he says : — 

" Thanks for your many affectionate letters and unceasing atten- 
tion to our mutual concerns. I frequently anticipate with satisfac- 
tion the pleasing moment when I shall again take my place by our 
own fireside, and with William on one knee and Sally on the other, 
amuse you with a variety of information." 

Mrs. Jay was accustomed to ride on horseback, and 
her care in regard to her horses is occasionally exhibited 
in her letters. She writes to Mr. Jay, October 11, 
1794:—- 



80 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

"Last Tuesday J. Lyon came to town on business, and brought 
the carriage horses. They are lean and entirely unbroke, even to a 
wagon. I was advised to send for Swan, a person who is said to 
understand breaking horses. He has undertaken it, and if he suc- 
ceeds is to receive £6, but is not to be paid any thing if he does 
not. Frank attends him daily with the horses, for Swan says that 
the coachmen of this city require as much breaking as the horses." 

A fortnight later, she writes that — 

" The young horses have become gentle and tractable under the 
tuition of Mr. Swan and your man Frank. I have rode out with 
them, and last evening paid some visits in town. They stood very 
quietly ; and, what to me was of equal consequence, they did not, 
like a former pair, stand longer than I wished." 

The horses in question had exposed Mrs. Jay to 
vexations, with a mention of which she had avoided 
annoying her absent husband. She had been disap- 
pointed at the delay of Mr. Jay's agent at Bedford in 
breaking them for her use, and had sent him by his son 
a mild message on the subject, which by some persons 
had been maliciously distorted into a notice that he 
should never be pardoned, and that Mr. Jay would 
require him to quit the farm on the 1st of May follow- 
ing. This untrue statement induced a hasty and ill- 
tempered letter, dated the 10th of November, to Mrs. 
Jay, written under extreme irritation. Its tone may be 
gathered from a single line : " Madam, although I am 
your servant, I am not your slave." The next day 
brought a more civil letter, making an offer of potatoes, 
turnips, &c, but no apology for the first. Mrs. Jay's 
reply exhibits at once the force and dignity of her char- 
acter, as well as her womanly tact and skill of expression. 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 81 

After declining the vegetables, with thanks, she pro- 
ceeded : — 

"I could wish, Major, your letter of the 11th had been unac- 
companied by the one of the 10th, as I am convinced you have 
yourself too much sensibility to reflect, without regret, on having 
wounded the feelings of a lady who has invariably treated you 
with cordiality and politeness." 

After stating distinctly what she had said, the letter 
concludes : — 

" That, sir, is the whole of what I told your son. Mr. Jay or 
the farm were not mentioned, and the word pardon neither entered 
my thoughts nor escaped my lips. I leave you, sir, to judge whether 
my observations merited the strictures you thought proper to make. 
Though Mr. Jay could not but be aware of the many inconveniences, 
injuries, and anxieties, that would be the consequence of his accept- 
ance of a mission three thousand miles from his family, yet I am 
well convinced asperities from you, sir, to his solitary wife never 
entered his calculations. It is unnecessary, Major, to trouble you 
with further observations. Should Mr. Jay's labors abroad be 
again blessed to his country, the sacrifice his long absence costs his 
family shall be submitted to without murmuring. 

"Sa. Jay." 

In one of her letters, Mrs. Jay tells Mr. Jay, that, in 
consequence of his prolonged absence, she had resolved, 
upon her own responsibility, to send their daughter Maria 
to the Moravian school for girls at Bethlehem, Pennsyl- 
vania, under the charge of Mr. and Mrs. Adams. Their 
friends, Mr. and Mrs» Arden, had already two daughters 
at the establishment. This was the most celebrated of 
the schools for girls, " where, in nun-like seclusion, were 
educated a large proportion of the belles who gave the 
fashionable circles of New York and Philadelphia their 

4* 



82 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

inspiration during the last twenty years of the century." 
When first visited by Mr. Adams, he found one hundred 
and twenty living under the same roof, and in a letter to 
his daughter he compared it to a nunnery. Mrs. Jay's 
daughter Anne afterwards joined her sister at Bethlehem, 
and both retained in after life pleasant recollections of 
the days passed there. 

On the 28th of May, 1795, Mr. Jay returned from 
England, and learned that during his absence he had 
been elected Governor of the State, the result having 
been declared but two days before his arrival. He 
landed at the Battery, in the presence of a large con- 
course of citizens, who welcomed him with bells and 
cannon, and attended him to his house in Broadway. 
This popular applause was presently succeeded by vehe- 
ment abuse, by the Democratic party, of " that damned 
arch traitor, John Jay ;" and Mrs. Jay had the opportu- 
nity of observing both sides of a political career, when 
she found her husband burned in effigy at Philadelphia, 
and when Hamilton, defending the treaty, was answered 
with stones. 

Mr. Jay was a second time elected Governor, and 
the State Government, which had sat in New York, was, 
during his first term, removed to Albany. Mrs. Jay's 
health, in 1796, sent her to Lebanon Springs, which had 
already a high reputation. She was accompanied by her 
daughter Maria, and her letters show the enjoyment and 
benefit she received from the waters, aided by a simple 
country life and mountain air. 



MKS. JOHN JAY. 83 

The State Government had made no provision for a 
Governor's residence at Albany, and it was not until 
179 7-' 8 that Mrs. Jay permanently assumed the charge 
of her husband's house, and presided over the reunions 
of the descendants of the Dutch Huguenot and English 
colonists, whose devotion to freedom had given to New 
York its proud position in the country; while the wealth 
and importance derived from stately manors, miles 'in 
extent, and but recently invested with almost baronial 
privileges, blended with the simplicity of the young 
Republic, social features that had something of the dig- 
nity and grace usually associated with ancient aristoc- 
racy. 

In 1801, at the conclusion of his second term as 
Governor, Mr. Jay retired from public life, declining a 
reappointment as Chief Justice, tendered him by Presi- 
dent Adams, and with his daughter Anne he repaired to 
his farm at Bedford, where the improvements of the old 
dwelling-house were not yet completed. Mrs. Jay's 
health forbade her coming until the mechanics had all 
departed ; and while staying at Oakhill, May 27, 1801, 
she wrote to Mr. Jay : — 

" Say every thing to our dearest daughter (Anne) that a fond 
and delighted mother could express. Thank her for her charming 
letter. No cordials could have so salutary an effect on my spirits 
as the dear letters I receive from you both. I have perused and 
reperused them twenty times at least." 

A little later she wrote from Rye, October 6, to Mr. 
Jay:— 



84 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

"I have been rendered very happy by the company of our dear 
children, but could we have been together it would have heightened 
the satisfaction, every word and every look of our dear little boy 
(William). Your brother himself frequently exclaimed, you are a 
dear little dog. Banyar and his little wife (Maria) are an amiable 
couple, and I often, I should say daily, bless God for giving us such 
amiable children. May they long be preserved a blessing to us and 
to the community." 

Mrs. Jay wrote on her arrival at Bedford : " I can 
truly say I have never enjoyed so much comfort as I do 
here. 1 ' Her enjoyment, however, of the calm pleasures 
of domestic life, surrounded by her children, was destined 
to be but brief. Within twelve months she died, after a 
short illness, on the 28th of May, 1802. 

The character of Mrs. Jay is in part exhibited by the 
brief extracts given from her letters. However much of 
its equanimity was due to the example and influence of 
her husband, her letters show that, with a singular 
delicacy of feeling and sensibility of organization was 
combined a strength of mind based upon Christian 
principle, which enabled her to face danger without fear 
and to endure hardships and disappointments without a 
murmur. "You have a soul," wrote Mrs. Morris, in 
17S0, to Mrs. Jay, "superior, I know, to this. You 
look forward, doubtless, to events like my misfortunes 
with the eye of a philosopher and the mind of a Chris- 
tian." 

Her biography and correspondence, should it be 
published, would illustrate in no slight degree the early 
days of the Bepublic, and disclose the temper of the men 



MRS. JOHN JAY. 85 

and the women whose virtue secured the independence 
of their country, and whose characters and accomplish- 
ments sustained its dignity at home and at the courts of 
Europe. If to Sarah Livingston Jay belonged beauty, 
elegance, and accomplishments; if, from the charms of her 
manners or the vivacity of her conversation, combined 
with the accidents of birth and position, there is assigned 
her a prominent place among American women, she is 
entitled to regard on far better grounds than simply as a 
" Queen of American Society." Her memory may be 
cherished as that of one who exhibited from her youth, 
amid trial and hardship, a steadfast devotion to her 
country ; who, amid the gay society of Paris and ISTew 
York, preserved unimpaired her gentleness, amiability, 
and simplicity; and who, throughout her life, fulfilled 
with Christian fidelity and womanly affection the duties 
of a daughter, sister, wife, and mother.* 

* Mrs. Jay left five children : Peter Augustus, born at Elizabethtown, 
24th of January, 1716 ; Maria, born at Madrid, 20th of February, 1782, died 
21st of November, 1856; Anne, born at Passy, 13th of August, 1783, 
died 13th of November, 1856; William, born at New York, 16th of June, 
1789, died 14th of October, 1858 ; Sarah Louisa, born at New York, 20th 
of February, 1792, Died 22d of April, 1818. Governor Jay long survived 
his wife, and died at Bedford, 17th of May, 1829. 



86 QUEENS OF AMEKICAN SOCIETY. 



III. 



In the country's early days, New England had her 
acknowledged aristocracy, and Massachusetts boasted the 
most finished school of refined manners. Her public 
officers, clericals, and most wealthy persons constituted 
her gentry, or the upper classes, in all the towns ; in the 
CQuntry, those who held large landed estates, who were 
representatives, or held high civil or military offices, 
were regarded as members of the aristocracy. Habits 
and dress plainly denoted rank in life. One who was a 
gentleman usually went abroad in a wig, white stock, 
white satin embroidered vest, black satin small-clothes, 
with white silk stockings and fine broadcloth or velvet 
coat. At home, he wore a velvet cap, sometimes over a 
fine linen one, instead of a wig ; a gown of colored 
damask lined with silk in place of a coat, and leathern 
slippers. 

In most genteel families, a tankard of punch was 
prepared every morning, and visitors during the day 
were invited to partake of it; the master frequently 
taking the vessel from the cooler, drinking first from it 
himself, and handing it to his guests. 

Dinners and suppers were frequently interchanged. 
The fashionable hour was never later than three o'clock, 



SOCIAL LIFE IN BOSTON. 87 

and the table groaned with the dainties provided. The 
evening amusements were dancing and cards. Dramatic 
entertainments were prohibited by law; but concerts 
were in vogue, and in Boston gentlemen in private life 
performed vocal and instrumental music for the amuse- 
ment of their friends. The dancing was conducted with 
a severe regard to propriety. The modern objectionable 
waltzes were unknown ; the stately minuet, with its 
high-bred, formal courtesy, was varied by the contra- 
dance ; and cotillions did not come into favor till brought 
by French refugees from the West Indies. 

Glimpses of the social life of Boston at the close of 
the war may be found in the memoirs of the Marquis de 
Chastellux, who went the rounds of fashionable gayety in 
1782. The city was the home of the "Winthrop families, 
noted as founders of the colony ; there were the Cush- 
ings, Quincys, Bowdoins, Danas, Prescotts, &c, and 
more real respectability was to be foimd there than in 
almost any other town of its population. The Marquis 
noticed the prevalence of a " tone of ease and freedom ;" 
but thought the gentlemen awkward dancers, particu- 
larly in minuets. The women were well dressed, but 
with less elegance than in Philadelphia. He took tea at 
Bowdoin's, and was at supper with a select party of 
twenty ; noticing especially the host's beautiful grand- 
daughter, the eldest child of Lady Temple — " an angel 
in the disguise of a young girl." Elizabeth Temple, the 
daughter of Sir John Temple, and grand-daughter of 
Governor Bowdoin, in whose family she was brought up, 



88 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

was married in 1786 to Thomas Lindall Winthrop. 
During the years of the war, she had been in the habit 
of seeing Franklin, La Fayette, and the principal French 
and American officers. She was the reigning belle of 
Boston. La Fayette was her ardent admirer, and often 
called to see her. Her husband, Governor Winthrop, 
possessed an ample fortune, and they lived in style, 
exercising a generous hospitality, and receiving at their 
table most strangers of consideration who came to the 
vicinity. This lady was the mother of Robert C. Win- 
throp. 

Lady Temple, the wife of Sir John, was a daughter 
of Governor Bowdoin. The Marquis de Chastellux said, 
in 1782: " If I do not place Mrs. Temple in the list of 
handsome women, it is not from want of respect, but 
bacause her figure is so distinguished as to make it 
unnecessary to pronounce her truly beautiful." 

Jean Pierre Brissot de Warville was also intimate 
with the fashionables of Boston. He " hopes the Boston 
women may never, like those of Paris, acquire la mala- 
die of perfection in music, which is not to be attained 
but at the expense of the domestic virtues." The ladies, 
he said, had " the liberty of Geneva, in the days of the 
republic, when vows of love were believed, and the 
women were occupied in rendering their husbands 
happy." At that time, Frenchmen were inquisitive 
and intelligent speculators on our resources, government, 
and society. Brissot afterwards appeared in Paris in 
Quaker costume, and was the first to introduce the 



MES. HALEY. 89 

fashion of wearing the hair without powder. " The 
Bostonians," he said, " unite simplicity of manner with 
that French politeness and delicacy which renders virtue 
more amiable. Music, which their teachers formerly 
proscribed as a diabolical art, begins to make part of 
their education." 

On the road to New York he marveled at " supper, 
cider, tea, punch, and all for fourteen pence a head. 
Breakfast, coffee, tea, boiled and roast meat, tenpence 
each. On the road you often meet those fair Connecti- 
cut girls, driving a carriage, or alone on horseback, 
galloping boldly; with an elegant hat on the head, a 
white apron and a calico gown." This leads to comments 
on the general innocence of manners.* 

Sullivan says : " An important person in the fashion- 
able world was Mrs. Haley, sister of the celebrated John 
Wilkes, who came over and purchased a house in Boston, 
in 1785. She was, at the time, rather advanced in life, 

* A curious anecdote of the misfortune of a veteran gallant — Jeremiah 
Smith, of New Hampshire — who "had dabbled in love many times," and 
at last became a Benedick, illustrates the dress of the times. On his way 
to the bride's house, he lost his trunk with his wedding suit, and had to 
stand up in Ids traveling clothes. His biographer gives a list of the arti- 
cles : — " A light-colored broadcloth coat, with pearl buttons ; breeches of 
the same cloth ; ditto, black satin ; vest, swansdown, buff, striped ; ditto, 
moleskin, cheque figure : ditto, satin figured : ditto, Marseilles, white ; 
ditto, muslinet, figured ; under vest, faced with red cassimere ; two ditto, 
flannel; one pair flannel drawers; one ditto, cotton ; one pair black patent 
silk hose ; one ditto, white ditto ; one ditto, striped ; ten or a dozen white 
silk hose ; four pairs gauze ditto ; a towel ; six shirts ; twelve neckhand- 
kerchiefs ; six pocket handkerchiefs, one a bandanna ; a chintz dressing- 
gown; a pair of silk gloves; ditto, old kid — all valued at two hundred 
dollars." 



90 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

and of singular personal appearance, but was extremely 
prepossessing in manner. She afterwards married a 
gentleman who was the uncle of a celebrated Scotch 
reviewer, and her house became a place of fashionable 
resort." 

The sympathy of a portion of the people with French 
Jacobinism was shown in observances by no means in 
good taste. 

A " civic feast " was given in Boston, in honor of 
the success of the French Revolution. " A whole ox, 
skinned and dressed, with head and horns entire, and 
eyes protruding from the sockets, was turned on a great 
wooden spit before a furnace. When sufficiently roast- 
ed, it was placed on a sledge or carriage, propped up, 
and drawn through the principal streets, followed by 
two cartloads of bread and two hogsheads of punch. 
An immense concourse attended. A table was laid in 
State Street for the feast intended for the friends of 
liberty. The cutting up and distribution became ridicu- 
lous, then riotous. The roasted fragments were hurled 
into the air, and at the female spectators on the balco- 
nies and at the windows. A pole fifty or sixty feet high 
was raised in Liberty Square, surmounted with the 
horns of the ox, and stood several years. This feast took 
place on the day Louis XVI. was guillotined." 

Elsewhere the same spirit was exhibited by a part of 
the democracy. M. Genet, the first minister of the 
French Republic, on entering the house of the President, 
and seeing there a bust of Louis XVL, complained of it 



BELLES IN SOCIETY. 91 

as an insult to France. At a dinner at which Governor 
Mifflin was present, a roasted pig received the name of 
the murdered king, and the head severed from the body 
was carried round to each of the guests, who, after 
placing the liberty cap on his own head, pronounced the 
word " Tyrant," and proceeded to mangle with his knife 
that of the luckless creature doomed to be served for so 
unworthy a company. 

M. Genet first landed in Charleston, where his recep- 
tion and his journey to Philadelphia were triumphal; 
for, notwithstanding the President's proclamation of 
neutrality, the sympathy for the French was irrepressi- 
ble. " Aristocrats " were denounced ; the common ex- 
pressions of the sans-culottes were adopted in society, 
and the title " Citizen " became common. Genet mar- 
ried Cornelia Tappan Clinton, the daughter of the Gov- 
ernor of New York. One of her' sisters was Madame 
Campan, noted for her ability and her intimate relations 
with the royal family of France ; another was the beau- 
tiful Madame Auguie, mother-in-law of Marshal Ney. 
Madam Genet's home was at Greenbush, near Albany. 

John Quincy Adams wrote, in January, 1789, of 
Miss Aleny Ellery : " She is, unfortunately, somewhat 
deaf, but is uncommonly sensible, and (what I am 
grieved to say is still more uncommon in this country) 
her mind is much improved by reading, so that she can 
entertain a company with a large variety of conversa- 
tion without having recourse to the stale and trivial 
topics of commonplace, or to the ungenerous and dis- 



92 QUEENS OF AMEEICAN SOCIETY. 

graceful topic of scandal. She is not handsome, and is, 
I suppose, twenty-seven years old ; yet, were she in com- 
pany with twenty of the most beautiful young ladies in 
the State, and in this company I had to choose my seat, 
it should certainly be by her side. I have been en- 
deavoring, my sister, ever since I returned from Europe, 
to find a female character like this, united to great 
beauty of person ; and I begin to have the same preju- 
dice against a beauty as you have expressed in one of 
your letters against handsome men." 

At a ball, he wrote : " It fell to my lot, at first, to 
dance with the handsomest lady in the company. I en- 
deavored to -enter into conversation with her; but, to 
every thing I could say, the only answers were, ' Yes,' 
' No,' ' I think so,' ' Indeed.' I was soon tired of her, 
and concluded she was too much occupied in thinking 
of herself to give any of her attention to other people." 

Dr. Abner Hersey, of Barnstable, Massachusetts, 
was accustomed to rail at the fashions of the day. He 
lived on milk and vegetables, and wore a coat made of 
tanned calf-skins. The widow of his brother once pro- 
posed to visit him. He wrote : " Madam, I can't have 
you here ; I am sick, and my wife is sick ; I have no 
hay or corn for your horses ; I have no servants ; and I 
had rather be chained to a galley-oar than wait on you 
myself." • It was this eccentric man who founded the 
professorship of Theory and Practice of Medicine in 
Harvard University. 

Chastellux mentions an entertainment given by Mrs. 



BELLES IN SOCIETY. 93 

Cusliing, where Mrs. Bowdoin was a guest, and the sup- 
per was on the table four hours after dinner.* Mrs. 
dishing was the wife of Judge Cushing, of the Supreme 
Court, and often traveled with her husband. Mrs. - 
Pinckney wrote to her, July 5, 1795 : " Mr. Izard con- 
trived to overset his chair and himself on his journey 
home, and dislocated his arm!, He says the accident 
could not have happened had he taken Mrs. Izard with 
him, and that it was in consequence of thinking of 
politics instead of the road. So you see, my dear madam, 
in what a variety of ways your traveling with Mr. Cush- 
ing is beneficial to him." 

John Adams wrote, in 1774 : " We breakfasted with 
Mr. Isaac Low, a gentleman of fortune and in trade. 
His lady is a beauty." Mrs. Low was the daughter of 
Cornelius Cuyler, Mayor of Albany, and was greatly 
admired in New York society for her personal attrac- 
tions and her amiable character. She died in London, 
at the age of eighty. 

The eldest Miss Allen was one of the most splendid 
beauties in the country. She became Mrs. Greenleaf. 
Mrs. Adams mentions the sisters and the Misses Chew 
among "a constellation of beauties." Mrs. Theodore 
Sedgwick, of New England, had a charming face and an 
air of elegance and refinement. She was Miss Pamela 
Dwight. 

* " The aliments," he says, " behave with the American stomach as 
we do in France on paying visits ; they never depart till they see others 
enter." 



94 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

In point of influence, Mercy Warren was the most 
remarkable woman who lived in the days of the Ameri- 
can Revolution. She was the daughter of James Otis, 
.of Barnstable, in the old colony of Plymouth. The 
Otis family came to this country about 1630, and first 
settled in Hingham. Mercy was born in 1728, and 
passed her youth in retirement, her studies being direct- 
ed by the parish minister, who directed her attention 
especially to history. At the age of twenty-six she 
married James Warren, a merchant, and resided on a 
farm. Here she continued her literary pursuits, and 
amused herself by writiug poetry. Her active and pow- 
erful mind entered with deep interest into political 
affairs, and she maintained a rich correspondence with 
some of the leading spirits of the Revolutionary era. 
Samuel and John Adams, Jefferson, Knox, and others, 
wrote to her, and consulted her in regard to important 
matters. Her close friend si lip and correspondence with 
Mrs. Adams continued unchanged through a long and 
eventful life ; the sister of Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Shaw, was 
also warmly attached to her. During the years pre- 
ceding the war, Mrs. Warren's house was the resort 
of much company ; and, as she said, " by the Plymouth 
fireside were many political plans originated, discussed, 
and digested." During the war she lived part of the 
time in Milton ; and wherever she was, the friends of 
her country were always welcomed to shelter and hos- 
pitality. Washington, Lee, Gates, and other distin- 
guished olficers, were frequently her guests; also Mrs. 



MRS. WAREEN. 95 

"Washington ; and her social influence and literary abili- 
ties were alike directed to the advancement of her coun- 
try's cause. She wrote poems, tragedies, political letters, 
and a history of the war, in which her pen did justice to 
those distinguished by merit. Her letters to the widow 
of General Montgomery and other eminent women have 
been quoted in another work,* in which an extended 
memoir is given. 

Mrs. "Warren invited Mrs. "Washington to her house, 
and paid her many attentions on her visit to head-quar- 
ters in Cambridge. In a letter to Mrs. Adams, Mrs. 
"Warren describes one of these visits to Mrs. Washington, 
and a drive in her chariot to see the enemy's deserted 
lines and the ruins of Charlestown. Speaking of Mr. 
' Cmstis, she says : " His lady, a daughter of Colonel 
y • / Oiklvert, of Maryland, appears to be of an engaging 
disposition, but very delicate in health. She is pretty, 
genteel, easy, and agreeable; but a kind of languor 
about her prevents her being as sociable as some 
ladies." 

One of Mrs. "Warren's intimate friends was Hannah 
"Winthrop, the wife of Dr. "Winthrop, of Cambridge. 
The two ladies corresponded under the signatures of 
" Honoria " and " Philomela ;" the last name being 
given to Mrs. Warren for her powers of song. Her 
usual poetic signature was "Marcia." Other correspon- 
dents were Mrs. Montgomery and the celebrated Mrs. 
Macaulay. 

* Women of the American Revolution. 



96 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Mrs. Warren is described by Bochefoucault, in his 
" Travels in the United States." " Although seventy 
years of age, she was," he says, " truly interesting ; for* 
lively in conversation, she has lost neither the activity 
of her mind nor the graces of her person." As a writer, 
she was in advance of the age. Her portraiture of Mr. 
Adams, in her history, gave offense to the great states- 
man ; but, after a sharp correspondence, all was recon- 
ciled, and Mrs. Adams sent her a ring with her own and 
her husband's hair. * 

Seldom has a woman, in any age, acquired such 
ascendency by the mere force of a powerful intellect, 
and her influence continued to the close of life. 



The Due de la Rochefoucault Liancourt said of Mrs. 
Knox : " Seeing her in Philadelphia, you think of her 
only as a fortunate player at whist ; at her house in the 
country, you discover that she possesses sprightliness, 
knowledge, a good heart, and an excellent understand- 
ing." Her father, Thomas Mucker, was the last Secre- 
tary of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He married 
Hannah, the daughter of General Waldo, proprietor of 
the Waldo Patent, in Maine. The portions of this 
domain belonging to Mrs. Flucker and her two brothers 
were afterwards confiscated. Mucker's high position 
gave his daughter, in girlhood, the advantages of the 
best society in Boston. Entitled, as she was, to a bril- 
liant match, it was mortifying to her parents that their 



MRS. KNOX. 97 

lovely and accomplished daughter should bestow her 
affections upon an obscure young man ; one, too, who 
favored the rebellion of the colonies against the mother 
country. The maiden found that her marriage with. 
Henry Knox would separate her from her dearest rela- 
tives, but love triumphed in the struggle, and she cast 
her all on the die that was to decide the nation's fate. 

After her marriage, Mrs. Knox found herself in the 
midst of new surroundings. She was much in the 
society of Mrs. Washington, and even more constantly 
in camp with the army. Her influence was shown in 
the deference uniformly paid to her. She was at Mount 
Yernon during the siege of Yorktown, soothing the grief 
of Mrs. Washington, in bereavement, by her affectionate 
sympathy. After the close of the war, General and 
Mrs. Knox returned to Boston, where they found great 
changes in society. She used to say, " The scum had all 
risen to the top." The prominent loyalists had fled the 
country. Knox took charge of the War Department 
under the old Confederation, and they removed to New 
York. They found a disposition general to welcome the 
new era with social festivities. Mrs. Washington was 
sovereign of the new court, and Mrs. Knox, her intimate 
friend and close neighbor, occupied a high post of honor. 

The removal of the capital to Philadelphia was the 
signal for hilarity and rejoicings in the latter place. It 
was said that the influence of Robert Morris had led to 
this removal, and he was caricatured in New York by 
pictures exhibiting the great financier carrying off the 



98 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

body of Congress on his back, with the motto, " Stick to 
it, Bobby." The world of fashion seemed to have run 
mad. All kinds of entertainments became popular, and 
ladies prominent as leaders were emulous in gayety and 
splendor. Mrs. Knox made her house the resort not 
only of fashionable people, but of the intellectual and 
cultivated. Her tact and talent in the management of 
life "at the court" were of essential service to Mrs. 
Washington, who relied on her guidance. The French 
Revolution brought an accession of many illustrious 
visitors, in princes and nobles driven from their own 
land. The house of General Knox was hospitably open 
to them, and some were entertained as his cherished 
guests. The Due de Liancourt passed several seasons 
with them at their beautiful home in Maine. In his 
destitution of proper apparel he was heard to exclaim : 
"I have three dukedoms on my head (beating it with 
violence), and not one coat to my back !" The suit was 
immediately supplied from the wardrobe of the General, 
and the kindness was gratefully remembered when the 
nobleman was restored to favor and wealth. Another 
visitor, both in Philadelphia and Maine, was the cele- 
brated Talleyrand. La Fayette visited General and 
Mrs. Knox in Boston, and stood godfather to their son. 

On the retirement of General Knox, in 1795, they 
finally quitted Philadelphia. Mrs. Knox was the only 
one of her family entitled to inherit property in the 
United States, and one-fifth of the large tract of land 
in Maine, the " Waldo Patent" — originally owned by 



MRS. KNOX. 99 

her grandfather, General Waldo — belonged to her. Gen- 
eral Knox bought a tract of equal extent from another 
branch of the family, and determined to establish a new 
home on this noble estate. At Thomaston, at the head 
of St. George's River, he built a splendid mansion ; a 
palace in dimensions, and called a " chateau " by his 
French visitors. It was furnished with luxurious taste ; 
the outhouses comprised every convenience ; and a vast 
amount of expenditure rendered " Montpelier " really a 
princely abode. Here the retired soldier exercised un- 
bounded hospitality ; receiving the great, patriotic, and 
distinguished of the land, and frequently entertaining 
total strangers, who came with real or assumed claims. 
Louis Philippe and his two younger brothers, the Due 
de Montpensier, the Comte de Beaujolais, and Due de 
Charolais were often welcome visitors at the house of 
Knox, in Boston, where he and Mrs. Knox were accus- 
tomed to spend their winters. The daughter of Mrs. 
Knox remembered the princes' expressions of anxiety 
about their mother and sister, still in the power of 
French Jacobins. One day when they came to dinner 
she saw them, with apparent joy, tear the tri-colored 
cockade from their hats, and trample them under foot. 
News had just come of the escape of their relatives into 
Spain ; and they would no longer keep terms with the 
wretches who bore sway in their native country ! 

The hospitality dispensed at Thomaston was such as 
the country has seldom seen. It was not unusual to 
order an ox and twenty sheep killed on Monday, to be 



100 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

consumed by guests in the course of the week, and to 
have a hundred beds made daily. Their daughter, Mrs. 
Thacher, wrote to the author of this volume : — 

" My mother, I think, was never more entirely satis- 
fied with her situation. Her greatest trouble was, that 
the retirement she anticipated was far from being real 
ized. My father's hospitable propensities still induced 
him to open his doors to all who were disposed to visit 
him ; and, as every thing that could interest or amuse 
was liberally provided, we were often favored much 
longer than was desirable with the company of guests 
who were entire strangers, and had no possible claim. 
It was to some such visitors as these, I doubt not, that 
my mother may have appeared distant and haughty. 
Such instances I well recollect, particularly when these 
unasked visits were unreasonably prolonged ; but those 
whom she liked, or was at all interested in, would have 
given her a far different character." 

It was in the second summer of Mrs. Knox's resi- 
dence in Maine that a party from Philadelphia, consist- 
ing of Mr. and Mrs. Bingham, their two daughters, Miss 
Willing, the sister of Mrs. Bingham, said to have been 
sought in marriage by Louis Philippe, the Yiscount de 
Noailles, the brother-in-law of La Fayette, and one of 
the most polished nobles of the French Court — Mr. 
Richards, an English gentleman, and Mr. Baring, after- 
wards Lord Ashburton, passed six weeks at Montpelier. 
The gentlemen made extensive excursions through the 
adjacent country, and Messrs. Bingham and Baring 



MRS. KNOX. 101 

were induced to purchase a million of acres on the Ken- 
nebeck, and a tract somewhat smaller east of the Waldo 
Patent. The wilds of Maine were thus enlivened by 
the most brilliant of the society of the national capital 
their companionship solacing the depressed spirits of 
Mrs. Knox, who suffered many sorrows in the loss of 
children. After the death of her husband her days 
were spent in retirement. She died in June, 1824, at 
the age of sixty -eight. 

Justice has not been done to Mrs. Knox, either by 
chroniclers of the times or. by contemporaries who were 
not admitted to intimacy, and failed, in consequence, to 
perceive that she had a heart full of warm sensibilities. 
She had a mind of a high and powerful cast, with such 
qualities as make a deep and abiding impression, and 
her influence was marked on all who approached her. 
But some called her dignity hauteur, and gave the name 
of boldness to the independence of a calm and lofty 
spirit. She gave a decided tone to the manners of the 
day in general society, and the deference shown her by 
General and Mrs. Washington sanctioned the homage 
paid to her superior intellect. 

Mrs. Knox was a remarkably fine-looking woman. 
Without being tall, her dignity of manner gave her a 
commanding appearance ; and she had a blooming com- 
plexion and brilliant black eyes. Stuart, who painted 
the General, attempted a portrait of her, but became 
dissatisfied, rubbed it out, and would never resume the 
work. 



102 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

The daughters of William Sheaffe, of Boston, were 
noted for beauty and fashion. A romantic incident is 
remembered of Captain Ponsonby Molesworth, a nephew 
of Lord Ponsonby, landing at Boston, in command of 
British troops, and halting opposite the house of Mr. 
Sheaffe. Susanna Sheaffe and her sisters were in the 
balcony or piazza. Captain Molesworth, struck with 
the girl's beauty, exclaimed, " That girl seals my fate !" 
She was at the time about fifteen. The Captain ob- 
tained an introduction, visited her, and proposed mar- 
riage, but the father refused his consent. The young 
lady agreed to an elopement, and, accompanied by 
her governess, fled with her lover to Rhode Island, 
where they were married. They afterwards went 
abroad. 

Margaret Sheaffe married John P. Livingston, then 
a Boston merchant, and died in Boston, 1784, at the age 
of twenty-four. "So handsome no one could take her 
picture." La Fayette visited and admired her. He 
said once to her lover, " Were I not a married man I 
would try to cut you out." After his return to Prance, 
the Marquis sent her a " satin cardinal, lined with 
ermine, and an elegant silk garment to wear under it." 
The relic was long preserved. 

Helen, another daughter, "like a rosebud just open- 
ing to view," married James Lovell, afterwards an officer 
in the naval service. At thirteen she wrote a poem in 
answer to the question, " What is religion ?" She died 
in Boston, 1S02, at the age of thirty-three. Her daugh- 



MRS. ADAMS. 103 

ter, Mrs. Loring, resides at Brookline, Massachusetts. 
Lady Temple was very intimate with the ladies of the 
Sheaffe family. William Sheaffe was nephew and heir 
to Major-General Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, Baronet. 



Abigail Adams was descended from the genuine 
stock of the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts. She was 
the daughter of Rev. William Smith — pastor during forty 
years of the Congregational church at Weymouth, in the 
colony of Massachusetts Bay — and of Elizabeth Quincy, 
born in 1744. In October, 1764, she married John 
Adams, then a young lawyer of Braintree, afterwards 
the second President of the United States. She passed 
with her family through the horrors of war and many 
scenes of distress, after peace leaving her modest home 
to accompany Mr. Adams on his mission as the first 
representative of the United States at the British Court. 
She passed some years abroad, visiting France and the 
Netherlands ; and her letters to her sister are a faithful 
transcript of life in the Old World. She bore an impor- 
tant part in the nation's early history, while sustaining 
its social fame. Her republican simplicity of manners 
was compensated by habitual elevation of demeanor, 
which commanded the highest consideration ; and her 
close observation, clear judgment and discrimination, 
enabled her to exercise an influence widely acknow- 
ledged. When Adams entered on the Yice Presidency, 
and when afterwards he became Chief Magistrate of the 



104 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

nation, the worthy partner of his honors added grace 
and dignity to her elevated position. One chief charm 
of her conversation was the perfect sincerity apparent in 
all she said. By her cheerful, affectionate sympathy and 
buoyant spirit, her sensibility, tact, and practical know- 
ledge of life, she sustained her husband in the severest 
cares and labors of his station, disarmed the demon of 
party spirit, calmed the agitation of discord, plucked out 
the root of bitterness, and healed the wounds of political 
animosity. She was, indeed, fitted for eminent useful- 
ness as the companion of one great statesman and the 
guide of another. After the President's retirement to 
private life, she continued to feel a deep interest in 
public affairs, as is shown in her correspondence with 
Mercy Warren. Mrs. Adams's exemplary deportment, 
during the twelve years of her husband's connection with 
the American government, and her well-known devotion 
to him, with her superior mental endowments, gave her a 
ruling social influence founded on universal esteem. She 
always maintained a liberal hospitality, was faithful and 
warm in her friendships, kind and benevolent to the 
poor, and a bright example of womanly and Christian 
virtues. During her later years, she lived in rural seclu- 
sion at Quincy, and died at the age of seventy-four, 
October, 1818. 

Mrs. Adams thus described her residence on Rich- 
mond Hill : " The avenue to which is interspersed with 
forest trees, under which a shrubbery rather too luxu- 
riant and wild has taken shelter. In front of the house 



MRS. CRANCH. — MRS. SHAW. 105 

the noble Hudson rolls his majestic waves, bearing on 
his bosom innumerable small vessels. Beyond the Hud- 
son rises to view the fertile country of the Jerseys, 
covered with a golden harvest, and pouring forth plenty 
like the cornucopia of Ceres. On the right hand an 
extensive plain presents us with a view of fields covered 
with verdure and pastures full of cattle. On the left the 
city opens upon us, intercepted only by clumps of trees 
and some rising ground. In the background is a large 
flower-garden, inclosed with a hedge, and some very 
handsome trees ; on one side is a grove of pines and 
oaks tit for contemplation." 

The mother of Mrs. Adams was the daughter of Hon. 
John Quincy, of Braintree. She possessed great dignity, 
combined with benignity of character. She had three 
celebrated daughters. The eldest, Mary, in 1762 mar- 
ried Eichard Cranch, Judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas in Massachusetts ; the youngest, Elizabeth, mar- 
ried Rev. John Shaw, of Haverhill, and after his death 
Rev. Stephen Peabody, of Atkinson. These ladies were 
handsome, with polished and courtly manners, and supe- 
rior powers of conversation ; for they had high culture 
and were well read in the English classics. Mrs. Shaw's 
house, at Haverhill, was the centre of an elegant circle 
of society, for many years after the Revolution ; the 
resort of the most cultivated residents of Boston and the 
vicinity ; and light and joy were liberally dispensed hy 
the accomplished mistress. As Mrs. Peabody she corre- 
sponded with Mrs. "Warren, and with her brother-in-law, 

6* 



106 QUEENS OF AMERICAN" SOCIETY. 

John Adams. Her manuscript journal describes a din- 
ner on bacon and eggs on the road to Plymouth, a quilt- 
ing by the daughters of the house, and. her reading to 
them from her book, " Zulima the Coquette," " Yirtue 
and Constancy Rewarded," <fec. 

Abigail, the daughter of John and Abigail Adams, 
was married in London, 1786, to Colonel William S. 
Smith, then Secretary of Legation. She returned to the 
United States in May, 1788. 

She describes the Marchioness de Brehan, sister of 
the French Minister, as " the oddest figure eyes ever 
beheld ; she speaks English a little, and is very much 
out of health." Madame de Brehan wrote with spirit, 
and was an accomplished artist. She painted portraits 
of Washington, one of which he presented to Mrs. Bing- 
ham. Jefferson wrote to her, on her quitting Paris for 
the U nited States : " The imitations of European man- 
ners which you will find in our towns, will, I fear, be 
little pleasing. I beseech you to practice still your own, 
which will furnish them a model of what is perfect. 
Should you be singular, it will be by excellence." 

Mrs. Smith wrote of Mrs. Clinton : " Mrs. Clinton is 
not a showy, but a kind, friendly woman. She has five 
daughters and one son ; the second daughter is as smart 
and sensible a girl as ever I knew ; a zealous politician 
and a high anti-Federalist. 

" You would not be much pleased with society here. 
It is quite enough dissipated. Public dinners, public 
days, and private parties, may take up a person's whole 



NEW YORK GAYETIES. 107 

attention. The President of Congress gives a dinner 
one or two or more days every week, to twenty persons — 
gentlemen and ladies. Mr. Jay, I believe, gives a din- 
ner almost every week." 

The dignity of office was then maintained by forms 
designed to inspire respect, and special regard was paid 
to the wives of men who had deserved much of their 
country. The widows of Greene and Montgomery were 
always handed to and from their carriages by the Presi- 
dent himself, the secretaries and gentlemen of his house- 
hold performing those offices for the other ladies. 

These New York gayeties, in 178 S, had been in- 
creased by numerous weddings in fashionable circles. 
Miss Montgomery, in her " Reminiscences," relates an 
anecdote of a wedding at the Rutgers' Mansion. Her 
grandfather, who was to sail at daylight, was persuaded 
to stay to the wedding-supper. He took his departure 
after eleven o'clock, a servant being ordered to conduct 
him through a huckleberry swamp on the way to his 
lodgings. He declined the service, but the moon going 
down, he lost his way, and wandered all night among 
thorns and briers, emerging at dawn with his clothes 
nearly torn off. This swamp was long ago the centre 
of the city. 

The correspondence of John Quincy Adams with 
his sister gives an amusing picture of the times. Before 
her marriage he visited the family of Colonel Smith, at 
Jamaica, Long Island. There were six daughters. 
" Sally is tall, with a fine shape, blue eyes, and much 



108 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

vivacity." " She has," he says, " the ease and elegance 
of the French ladies, without their loquacity." This 
lady married his brother, Charles Adams, a few years 
later. He mentions also a " celebrated beauty, Miss 
Ogden, who resembles the handsome Mrs. Bingham, of 
Philadelphia ; also a Miss Yon Berckel, who complains 
of not understanding our language." " Lady "Wheate is 
one of the most celebrated belles of the city. About 
two years ago she married Sir Jacob Wheate, a British 
officer between sixty and seventy — she not yet sixteen. 
Sir Jacob, before he had been married a week, went to 
the West Indies, and there died, leaving her a handsome 
fortune. It is said she is soon to wed Sir Francis Coch- 
rane, son of Lord Dundonald, a Scotch nobleman. 

" Miss Sally Smith was with Lady Wheate, having 
spent nearly a week with her. I am vastly pleased with 
this lady ; the contrast between her manners and those 
of Lady Wheate is greatly in her favor, and very 
striking." 

He wrote of Lady Duer, whom Adams met at a 
dinner at General Knox's : — 

" Lady Duer is not young or handsome ; but she 
would not have been thought old by a man over 
eighteen, and she had been, if she was not then, one of 
the sweetest looking women in the city. 

" Miss Sears is very pretty, and has the reputation 
of being witty and sharp. I am sure she does not look 
mechante." After a passage of more than twelve weeks 
from Amsterdam, the daughter of Mr. Von Berckel 



MADAME DE MAEBOIS. 109 

arrived in Philadelphia, and the Minister went ont to 
meet her. Adams had seen her in Holland. " The 
young ladies here are very impatient to see her, and I 
dare say, when she comes, reflections will not be spared 
on either side. The beauties of New York will triumph ; 
but, I hope, with moderation." " Oh, that our young 
ladies were as distinguished for the beauties of their 
minds as they are for the charms of their persons ! ( But 
alas ! too many of them are like a beautiful apple that is 
insipid to the taste l"^ 

M. de Marbois, French Charge d' Affaires in 1784, 
had married Miss Moore. General Washington wrote 
to congratulate him on his union, alluding to "the 
accomplishments of the lady, and her connections." 
Their daughter, born in New York, married the Duke 
de Plaisance, the son of Le Brun, one of Napoleon's 
colleagues in the Consulate. Madame de Marbois was a 
spruce, pretty little woman ; she spoke French habitu- 
ally, and had none of the rigid notions of the Quakers, 
among whom she was born. John Quincy Adams 
writes, in 1785, after a visit to her house on Long 
Island: "Madame de Marbois may be called a pretty 
little woman ; she was a Quaker, but appears not to 
retain any of the rigid tenets of that sect." 



The wife of John Quincy Adams was Louisa Cath- 
erine, daughter of Joshua Johnson, of Maryland. She 
was born in London, in 1775, and spent her early years 



110 QUEENS OE AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

in England and France. Her father's Louse in London 
was the general resort for Americans. She was married 
to Mr. Adams in July, 1797. He had been resident 
Minister at the Hague. After the elder Adams became 
President his son was Minister to Berlin, where his 
young wife performed her part in the higher circles of 
social and political life. She proved quite competent to 
sustain honors with dignity, and her good humor and 
conciliating manners made friends. In 1801 she re- 
turned with Adams to the United States ; and, as he 
was Senator, their winters were passed in Washington, 
while their summers were spent in Boston. In 1808, 
Adams was appointed by Madison the first accredited 
Minister to Russia ; and his wife was the first lady pre- 
sented at that Court as the representative of American 
female manners and character. The impression she 
made was eminently favorable. "While Adams was at 
Ghent, to negotiate a mediation between England and 
the United States, Mrs. Adams passed the winter alone 
at St. Petersburgh. In the spring she set off to travel 
by land to Paris, to join her husband. The dangers of 
the journey were great, in a small carriage, with only 
her son, eight years of age, besides menials. The car- 
riage got buried in a snow-drift as night was coming on, 
and the servants were compelled to rouse the peasants 
to dig it out. They heard tales of robbery and mur- 
der at eveiy stopping-place, and were cautioned as to 
the character of the servants. A Polish cap worn by 
one nearly caused a riot. The hostility shown was so 



MKS. JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. Ill 

alarming, Mrs. Adams was obliged to dismiss her atten- 
dants and hire others to go on. Then they became 
entangled with the wild soldiery, elated by news from 
Napoleon, on their way to Paris to prepare, under his 
inspection, for the field of Waterloo. These troops 
requiring demonstrations of political faith, Mrs. Adams 
appealed to the commander of the detachment, and 
by his advice fell back till the last of the soldiers 
had passed. She then diverged into another road, and 
by a circuit avoided another meeting. Her calmness 
and presence of mind were of essential service in these 
trying situations. She arrived safely in Paris, March, 
1815, very shortly before the memorable arrival of Napo- 
leon and flight of the Bourbons. She had opportunities 
for seeing every thing at the beginning of the celebrated 
"hundred days." 

"When Mr. Adams was appointed Minister to Eng- 
land, she quitted France for their sweet and modest 
country-seat near London. After his eight years' ab- 
sence, Adams returned to America in 1817, and she 
resumed the habits of republican life, unspoiled by court 
customs, and unawed by civil or military supremacy. 
The society in Washington was then on a most agree- 
able footing ; it was " the era of good feelings," and the 
relenting of national animosity, and the ascendency of 
polished urbanity. Mrs. Adams presided with ease and 
graceful courtesy for eight years in the house of the Sec- 
retary of State. Her sprightly conversation and capa- 
city for enjoyment produced a benign and enlivening 



112 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

effect in the circles where she moved. When the con- 
test for the election of President began, she retired, in a 
measure, from society, and continued in seclusion till 
called to do the honors of the Executive mansion as the 
wife of the President. Her manners were elegant, 
though her tastes were extremely simple. The failure 
of her health made it necessary for her again to seek 
retirement, and she was no longer seen in fashionable 
circles, though she still presided at public receptions. 
When Mr. Adams's term expired, her retirement became 
complete ; the remainder of life being devoted to the 
cares of her family and the practice of homely do- 
mestic virtues. 



THE QUINCY FAMILY. 113 



IV. 



The Quincy family can be traced back for more than 
six centuries. Supposed to be of Norwegian origin, it 
received its territorial appellation from the village of 
Quincy, in Normandy. Robert de Quincy came from 
Normandy to England with William the Conqueror, 
As a feudal baron, after the conquest he held an emi- 
nent position. His grandson was created Earl of Win- 
chester by King John, about 1207. He attended the 
call of the convention between King John and the 
barons, which resulted in extorting from the monarch 
the grant of Magna Charta; thus helping to establish 
the earliest basis of English constitutional liberty. The 
title of Winchester soon became extinct for lack of male 
heirs, but the daughters married into illustrious families 
in England. Edmund Quincy came to Boston with the 
Reverend John Cotton, in 1633. His name and his 
wife's are on the record of the first church established — 
the " Old South." His son Edmund inherited and 
settled upon his father's estate at Mount Wollaston, 
afterwards Braintree, now Quincy. His grandson, John 
Quincy, was one of the most distinguished public char- 
acters of the period, serving, in succession, as a represen- 
tative of Braintree and a member of the Executive 



114 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Council, forty years. His patrimonial estate passed to 
the possession of his great grandson, John Quincy 
Adams. Edmund, the uncle of John, was also eminent 
in public life, and became judge of the Supreme Court 
in 171S. He was appointed by the General Court of 
Massachusetts their agent at the court of Great Britain 
in the controversy between the provinces of Massachu- 
setts Bay and New Hampshire, and died while employed 
on the mission, in 1738. The General Court, in acknowl- 
edgment, made a donation of a thousand acres of land in 
the town of Lenox, Berkshire County, to his heirs. His 
eldest son, Edmund, who lived on the ancestral estate at 
Brain tree, was the father of Dr. Jacob Quincy, and 
Dorothy, the subject of this sketch. Some of the family 
removed to Portland, Maine. Dr. Quincy's'eldest daugh- 
ter married Hon. Asa Clapp, and her daughter was the 
wife of Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury 
of the United States. The celebrated philosopher and 
rhapsodist, Thomas de Quincy, was of this family, and 
boasted, even in the ears of George III., of his ancient 
and honorable blood. 

Sullivan pronounced John Hancock " one of the 
greatest men of his age." The honor which encircled 
his name received added lustre from his wife. She was 
a leader of taste and fashion in the best circles of society. 
The daughter of Judge Edmund Quincy, she was born 
in 1718. In 1775, Dorothy Quincy was married to John 
Hancock, then Governor of Massachusetts, afterwards 
President of the first Congress. The wedding took place 



MRS. HANCOCK. 115 

at the country-seat of Thadcleus Burr, in Fairfield, 
Connecticut.* Mr. Hancock had gone thither for safety, 
and was in concealment with Samuel Adams, a price 
having been put upon their heads by the King of Eng- 
land. It was not deemed safe for Mr. Hancock to 
return, that the marriage might take place in Boston. 
Their meals were privately conveyed to them, and they 
were kept in strict seclusion. After a time, they were 
permitted to sit down to the dinner table with the 
members of the family, in expectation of a comfortable 
repast. Before they had realized the anticipated pleas- 
ure, a farmer from the neighborhood came in, greatly 
excited, and requested the Rev. Mr. Clark (at whose 
house the fugitives were staying) to lend him his horse 
and chaise to go after his wife, as " the British were 
coming." This news in a moment scattered the whole 
party. Adams and Hancock were hurried away to their 
hiding-place ; and Mrs. Hancock used to say it was 
always a matter of wonder to her what became of that 
dinner, for none who sat down to it ever tasted it. _ The 
alarm was occasioned by a false report ; but there was a 
time when the leaden balls of the enemy reached the 
house that sheltered them. A fortnight after the birth 
of her first child, Mrs. Hancock was conveyed on a bed, 
with her baby, to her carriage, to travel from Boston in 

* I am indebted for the reminiscences in this sketch to Miss Martha 
A. Quincy, of Boston, the grand-daughter of Mrs. Hancock's youngest 
brother, Dr. Jacob Quincy, and the companion of Mrs. Hancock during 
the last ten years of her life. Her reminiscences were a contribution to 
Mrs. Lincoln Phelps' volume entitled " Our Country." 



116 QUEENS OF AMEKICAN SOCIETY. 

the winter to Philadelphia, in company with her hus- 
band, then chosen President of the first Congress. She 
often spoke of his reluctance, from natural modesty, to 
accept the office. While he hesitated, one of the mem- 
bers clasped him around the waist, lifted him from his 
feet, and placed him in the chair of state. 

While Mrs. Hancock was in Philadelphia, her hus- 
band came to her room one day, saying he had a secret 
to communicate, which must be faithfully kept. It was 
that he had that day received a letter from home, stating 
that it was thought it would be necessary to burn the 
city of Boston, to prevent its falling into the hands of 
the enemy ; and, as his wealth was centered there, he 
was asked if he would be willing to sacrifice all his 
property for such an object. He immediately replied 
that he gave his full consent to commit his property to 
the flames, if the good of the people demanded it. This, 
Mrs. Hancock answered, was rather a disagreeable secret. 
Her husband acknowledged that it would reduce them to 
beggary. But his purpose was fixed — he wished his 
possessions to be devoted to the best interests of his 
country. 

His wife was at this time just preparing to attend a 
Quaker meeting for the first time. This terrible an- 
nouncement, or the thought of what might be the result, 
did not overcome her even so much as to deter her from 
the proposed attendance upon the meeting. She often 
told her friends how the room was crowded when she 
arrived at the place, and how the painful secret weighed 



MRS. HANCOCK. 117 

upon her as she sat there three hours, waiting to hear 
what she supposed would be a speech, from which she 
hoped mental relief for the time. But no relief came ; 
for no utterance broke the silence before the time for 
parting. On further consideration, the inhabitants of 
Boston deemed it unnecessary to burn the town. 

At the time when the "continental money" was 
nearly worthless, Governor Hancock's sympathies led 
him to continue taking the bad paper of those who pre- 
sented it, until his friends saw that he would soon dis- 
pose, in this way, of his whole fortune. They told his 
wife that the " money -trunk " must be removed from 
the house, or she and her child would be penniless. It 
was removed without consulting the Governor. At 
that time he resided in the then magnificent mansion 
built by Thomas Hancock, and left at his death to his 
adopted nephew, John Hancock. It was situated on 
Beacon Street, opposite Boston Common, and was the 
finest residence in the town. In 1863, this house, built 
in 1737, was taken down. It was held to the last year 
by the family. 

Hancock lived in luxurious style. He was noted for 
his hospitality, and kept an open house and a sumptuous 
table for his friends. La Fayette, on his first visit to 
this country, accepted an invitation to spend some time 
in his house. The Marquis General was much attached 
to Mrs. Hancock, and, on his second visit to America, 
she was the first lady on whom he called. Many spoke 
of the interesting interview between " the once youthful 



118 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

chevalier and the splendid belle." It is probable that 
few if any, in his day, surpassed Mr. Hancock in his style 
of living. His equipage was a carriage and four horses ; 
his coach being fitted up in good taste, with brilliant 
plate-glass and handsome ornaments, suitable both for 
traveling and parade. Thirteen servants and a goodly 
number of horses were attached to the service of the 
Governor's family. His wife had a pretty pony, with 
a light, drab-colored saddle-cloth, highly embroidered. 
Hancock gave every Saturday what was called a " salt- 
fish dinner;" an elaborate affair, duly prized in those 
days. Prince Edward of England, while traveling in 
this country, called upon Mrs. Hancock, and made him- 
self very agreeable, telling her that he was said to 
resemble some noted personage, and asking her what 
she thought of his " red whiskers." His friends regret- 
ted that she did not, as it was Saturday, give him an 
invitation to her " fish dinner." All classes were enter- 
tained ; the veterans, the clergy, the gay, the gifted, and 
those who had no superior claims. 

Brissot wrote of John Hancock : " He shows himself 
the equal and the friend of all. I supped at his house 
with a hatter, who appeared to be in great familiarity 
with him. Mr. Hancock is amiable and polite when he 
wishes to be ; but they say he does not always choose it. 
He has a marvelous gout, which dispenses him from all 
attentions, and forbids the access to his house." Sulli- 
van, in his " Letters on Public Characters," expresses his 
opinion that so much gout was caused by the general 



MRS. HANCOCK. 119 

practice of drinking punch in the mornings as well as 
evenings. The tankard was prepared early, and visitors, 
during the day, were invited to partake of it. The 
usual dinner-hour was one or two ; and the suppers were 
abundant in good things. The evening amusements 
were cards and dancing; concerts were attended, thea- 
tres were prohibited. We may gather some idea of the 
manner of living by the fact that, when going to visit a 
niece of his wife in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Han- 
cock traveled with a coach and four, two outriders, a 
postillion, coachman, and footman, — the servants in liv- 
ery,— besides seven horses. At the end of the first day's 
journey they reached Marblehead; arriving at Ports- 
mouth, sixty miles from home, on the second day. At 
another time they were a fortnight traveling from Boston 
to Philadelphia, in similar style. Once, when journeying 
on this route, Mrs. Hancock found, after stopping over 
night at a certain place, that her horses were so jaded 
they could not proceed the next day. On inquiry, it 
was ascertained that they had been taken in the night 
and used on a pleasure excursion in honor of St. Pat- 
rick's day. 

Governor Hancock was a great sufferer from the 
malady aforementioned. At one time, when he returned 
from public business, he was so ill that he was taken 
from his carriage in the arms of his servants, and laid 
upon the sofa till the tailor who had made the new suit 
of clothes he had on could cut them off, so that he could 
be carried with less pain to his sleeping-room. At 



120 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

another time, when suffering in a similar way, he went 
as usual to the State House, which was then at the 
head of State Street, to attend to his appointed duties. 
Coming out, he was surrounded by an admiring multi- 
tude, who, after he had entered the carriage in which 
his wife had come to meet him, began to remove the 
four horses, with the design of drawing him themselves 
to his home in Beacon Street. Four hundred men were 
already forming in procession with this intent. The 
Governor was overcome by this demonstration of public 
respect, and being so ill he could not speak for himself, 
he requested his wife, who was noted for her personal 
beauty, to address the crowd from the carriage window, 
and say to them that the Governor was overwhelmed by 
the honor they desired to confer upon him ; that he 
gratefully acknowledged the kindness of feeling that 
prompted the act ; but he must beg them, on account of 
his present weak state, to permit him to be taken by his 
horses as rapidly as possible to his home. His request 
was granted. 

Mrs. Hancock often related the circumstances of his 
severe attack of gout at the time when General Wash- 
ington was expected to make his first appearance in 
Boston. The General had accepted an invitation to 
dine that day with the Governor. It had been repre- 
sented to Washington that etiquette demanded that the 
Governor should be at the entrance of the town to wel- 
come him. This was expected; and when the General 
had been delayed two hours — waiting, in a cold wind, 



MRS. HANCOCK. 121 

with delicate health — Hancock not appearing, he asked 
if there were no other entrance to the town by which he 
could speedily reach his lodgings. Being answered in 
the negative, he ordered the cavalcade to move on at a 
quick pace, proceeding directly to the place of his abode. 
Meanwhile, Governor Hancock was patiently keeping 
back his dinner, in continual expectation of the arrival 
of the distinguished guest. Soon the report reached the 
house, and was whispered about, explaining why he had 
not come. . 

The next day the Governor ordered his carriage, and, 
with limbs wrapped in red baize, he was placed in it, in 
order to call on the General. When he arrived at 
Washington's lodgings, he was carried in the arms of 
his servants to the head of the stairs, and thence he 
crawled on his hand and knees into the presence of the 
Commander-in-Chief. The General, seeing him in this 
position, was moved to tears. All difficulties being soon 
removed, kindness and cordiality were reciprocated. 

Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Hancock were friends. 
The first would say to the latter : " There is a great 
difference in our situations. Your husband is in the 
cabinet, but mine is on the battle-field." Persons of 
eminent position in other countries, as well as his own, 
were often favored guests in Governor Hancock's family. 
While the French fleet was in Boston Harbor, Count 
d'Estaing and some other persons of rank, with their 
life-guards, visited the Governor. Hancock sent a note 
to the Admiral of the fleet, inviting him to breakfast, 



122 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

with thirty of his officers. The Admiral accepted the 
invitation, but sent a request to the Governor to permit 
him the pleasure of bringing all his officers, including the 
midshipmen. This request was granted, but not with- 
out some solicitude as to the possibility of accommodating 
three hundred officers and providing for their entertain- 
ment. In those days, there were not the facilities of 
confectioners, and other resources of the present time. 
It was summer, and carts and wagons were pressed into 
the service to bring from the surrounding country the 
various fruits of the season. 

It was found that milk sufficient for the demand 
could not be obtained, even from the whole vicinity of 
Boston. Boston common was at that time used as a 
place of pasturage for cows ; and Mrs. Hancock, in liei 
dilemma, requested the life-guards and the servants of 
her family to take pitchers, mugs, and bowls, and to 
milk all the cows on the common. If any persons 
interfered, they were to be sent to her for explanation. 
This novel proceeding made a laughable exhibition to 
the public, but it was a success, and offended no one. 

Eleven o'clock was the hour for breakfast. At the 
appointed time, the officers were seen entering the far- 
thest end of the Common, in front of the Governor's 
house. Mrs. Hancock often in after life described that 
scene ; and, though naturally very calm and tranquil in 
manner, when speaking of that day she always showed 
great animation, seeming to feel again the fire and 
excitement of the scene. She said the sun shone 



MRS. HANCOCK. 123 

brightly on the gold lace that elaborately adorned the 
French officers ; and, in their march to the house, the 
brilliant display exceeded any thing she ever saw before 
or afterwards of military parade. The Admiral soon 
after returned the compliment by giving a grand dinner 
on board his ship to the Governor and his wife. Mrs. 
Hancock occupied the seat of honor, and at her right 
hand was a large rosette of ribbon, attached by a strong 
rope to something under the table. This mysterious 
apparatus caused her no small curiosity. At the moment 
when the toasts were to be given, the Admiral's aid, 
who sat next her, requested that she would draw up the 
ribbons. She obeyed, and in doing so she fired the 
signal gun, which in an instant was answered by every 
vessel in the fleet. This was a distinguished honor paid 
her, in return for the attention shown to the Admiral 
and his officers. 

At the annual commencement of Harvard College, 
it was the custom for the Governor and the " Boston 
Cadets" (his escort) to be present at the college exer- 
cises. It was Mr. Hancock's pleasure that this military 
company should take their breakfast with him that 
morning ; and as the services at Cambridge commenced 
at nine, a very early breakfast had to be given, in order 
that all might be in readiness for their place and duties 
at the appointed time. The Governor would have this 
plan carried out for several years, in spite of the great 
inconvenience it caused to his wife. She was compelled, 
in order to be present at the breakfast table, to summon 



124 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

her hairdresser at four o'clock in the morning ; and the 
day was always one of extreme fatigue to her. 

Many of the colored people were in the habit of 
marching in procession annually, on a certain day, be- 
fore the Governor's house. When they stopped in front 
of it, he would address them from the balcony. In the 
summer he was in the habit of riding through the coun- 
try. If he came to an unfinished church, he w T ould 
inquire why it was left so, and, if money was needed to 
complete the building, he would encourage the people to 
proceed, saying : " I will pay for the glazing if you will go 
to work and have it finished." This he did many times. 

He kept the yearly fast in spring on Jish, but for his 
dinner had always the first salmon of the season, for 
which he paid a guinea. He had a fine dinner-set of 
pewter ordered from England. It was the duty of his 
household to see that this pewter was kept at the highest 
point of brightness, and used every day, to the exclusion 
of the valuable India china set, also owned by him. He 
preferred to use the pewter, because, as he said, the con- 
tents of the plates and dishes were not so apt to slide 
off; also, that the use of them caused no clatter in con- 
tact with knives and forks. He had a large quantity of 
silver, much of it bearing the tower-stamp of England. 
He had four dozen silver forks matched with the same 
number of silver spoons ; also several silver tankards of 
different sizes. One, holding a gallon or more, he devo- 
ted exclusively to hot punch ; this he called " Solomon 
Townsend," in honor of a friend. He had also a large 



MRS. HANCOCK. 125 

silver porter-cup, holding two quarts or more, with two 
massive handles ; intended, probably, to be passed from 
guest to guest, that each might quaff in turn from the 
same cup. Much of the silver not only bore the " tower- 
stamp," but had also his own coat of arms engraved on 
it. I remember a silver wash-bowl, silver salvers, aspar- 
agus-tongs, four heavy silver chafing-dishes, four silver 
butter-boats, with various other articles ; also six heavy 
silver candlesticks, and a silver snuffers and snuff-dish. 
The last is in my possession. It has the Hancock arms 
engraved on it. 

The Governor had a passion for the portraits of his 
distinguished guests, which were painted to his order for 
his hall of paintings. Hancock ordered from England a 
whole piece of crimson silk velvet of richest quality, 
from which he had a coat and vest made. His wife 
refused a dress off the piece, as too heavy for her light 
figure. The Governor wore diamonds on great occa- 
sions. A silver dollar — engraved on one side with the 
united arms of Mrs. Hancock's parents, on the other 
with her maiden name and the date 1764 — the coin 
bearing the date 1689, and the stamp of James II., — is a 
prized relic in the family, with a tortoise-shell whisker- 
comb, imported from England, belonging to Hancock's 
dressing-case. Mrs. Hancock's wedding-fan was from 
Paris, and made of white kid, painted with appropriate 
designs. "Fan -mounting" was then done in this coun- 
try by ladies of respectable families. One who was Mrs. 
Hancock's fan-mounter, and others who were her dress- 



126 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

maker and hairdresser, have their descendants among 
the leaders of Boston society at the present day. The 
city was searched at that time in vain for gold or silver 
bells with coral for " the baby," though a rattle of the 
description was found. The christening suit, from Eng- 
land, was of embroidered India muslin, with stomacher 
and trimming of thread lace. Mrs. Hancock sent at the 
same time for a hat of lavender-colored silk trimmed 
with flowers, and a mantilla of muslin lined with laven- 
der silk. She gave six dollars a yard for a piece of mus- 
lin, in India, before it was cut from the loom. One of 
the breakfast-cloths used at the great breakfast given to 
the French fleet, w T as lately exhibited at a party given 
by Mrs. Cutts, in Boston, a great-niece of Mrs. Hancock, 
who presented her with the cloth. It had been used 
once since the breakfast ; at a dinner given by Mrs. 
Cutts to Daniel Webster. Another relic was a silver 
cake-basket, given by Mrs. Hancock, with the request 
that it should make its appearance at the wedding re- 
ceptions of her nieces and nephews. Six heavy silver 
candlesticks, a large salver, chopping-dish, and other 
articles of plate, bearing the Hancock coat of arms, be- 
long to her great-nephews, Clapp, in Portland, Maine. 

Hancock had an epicurean taste, and all the delica- 
cies of the season might be found upon his table. After 
his death his wife kept up his custom in these matters. 
Once she said : " The Governor's hobby was his dinner- 
table, and I suppose it is mine." From early morning 
till eleven at night, her house was open for the reception 



MRS. HANCOCK. 127 

of friends and strangers, as it had been while her hus- 
band was living. She was for years one of the " won- 
ders of the age ;" and, as the widow of Governor Han- 
cock, she was visited till the close of her life by distin- 
guished persons from foreign countries as well as her 
own. So long had she studied the tastes of her husband, 
that she excelled in the preparation of rich and delicate 
viands. With recollections of Hancock House are asso- 
ciated venison dinners and mince pies, which vanished 
when that house was taken down, and cannot now be 
had in the same state of perfection as in those palmy 
days. 

Governor Hancock was the son of a clergyman, but 
adopted by his uncle, who left him a very large fortune 
for the period in which he lived. At twenty-one he 
went to England, was presented at Court, and kissed the 
hand of King George. He was a man of warm sympa- 
thies as well as strong will. His manners were gracious, 
in the old style of dignified complaisance. One morn- 
ing, going to town in his phaeton, at an early hour, he 
saw a poor woman, with a large bundle, trudging along 
the road. He ordered the horses stopped, and asked 
where the woman was going. Being informed she was 
a washerwoman, on her way to the town, he had her and 
her bundle placed in the open carriage, and took her to 
her stopping-place. Such acts made him king in the 
hearts of the people. His temper, indeed, was some- 
times so violent as to lead some to question his benevo- 
lence ; for when suffering from a fit of the gout he 



128 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

would almost outrage common sense. An instance illus- 
trative may also serve to show what strict obedience he 
required of his servants. Shut up in his sick-room, he 
could not always be sure that his orders were carried 
out to his full requisition. He had repeatedly forbidden 
the use of the china table-service, directing that the 
pewter should at all times be used. The unreasonable- 
ness of this direction consisted in the difficulty of keep- 
ing a pewter set in constant fitness for use. On one 
occasion he called Cato, his favorite colored servant, to 
his room, and asked if the china set had been used that 
day. Being answered in the affirmative, he said: "I 
thought so. Now go down stairs and bring up a pile of 
china dishes." The servant soon returned with the 
dishes in his hands. The Governor said, "Now, open 
the window and throw them out." Cato did as he was 
told ; but took good care to open a window over a bank 
of soft turf, and to give them a gentle slide as he let 
them drop, so that none of them were injured. The 
Governor said, " I don't hear them break ! Go down, 
Cato, and bring them up again." The dishes were a 
second time produced. " Now," said he, " open the 
window over the paved coachyard, and throw them 
out." This order being obeyed, the dishes were de- 
stroyed. 

Sullivan describes Hancock, in June, 1782, as wear- 
ing "a red velvet cap, within which was one of fine 
linen; the last turned up two or three inches over the 
lower edge of the velvet. He wore a blue damask gown 



MRS. HANCOCK. 129 

lined with velvet, a white stock, a white satin embroi- 
dered waistcoat, black satin small-clothes, white silk 
stockings, and red morocco slippers." At this visit the 
Governor took from the cooler on the hearth a full 
tankard of punch, drank first himself, then offered it to 
those present. 

Governor Hancock was one day driving out with his 
wife, when they met Samuel Adams walking with the 
sheriff beside him. Hancock asked, " What is the mean- 
ing of this ?" Adams replied, " I am going to jail, as I 
cannot satisfy the sheriff's demands." The Governor 
said he would see to that and settle the demand, and 
bade the sheriff leave his prisoner. Many times was his 
purse opened for Mr. Adams's benefit, under similar 
circumstances. 

The Governor had a very large marquee made, 
which he wished to see displayed for once at least on 
the ground occupied by the present State House. His 
wish, however, could not be gratified. The time for its 
erection was to be on the day of the annual general 
review of all the military companies, in October. He 
requested his wife to have a collation provided on that 
occasion for all the officers. He was at that time pros- 
trated with his last fatal attack of the gout. He did 
not appear to comprehend that he was so near the close 
of his earthly career. Mrs. Hancock was informed by 
the physician that his death might occur at any hour. 
She could not, therefore, make the necessary prepara- 
tions for such a public display. At her refusal to com- 



130 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

ply with this long-cherished wish of Ms heart, her hus- 
band was much displeased, and she often said she could 
not feel satisfied that she had his full forgiveness for not 
carrying out his plans on that occasion. He became 
increasingly ill, and at ten o'clock on that very day it 
was announced that he was dying. The companies 
were ordered to leave the Common; and hushed were 
the drum and fife, with all their military inspiration, 
while the Commander-in-Chief of the State was pass- 
ing into the immediate presence of the Great Judge of 
all men. This was in October, 1793. 

Governor Hancock left orders that he should be 
buried without public honors, and forbade the firing of 
a gun over his grave. The State government chose to 
have the management of the whole affair, and told Mrs. 
Hancock that the funeral and its expenses belonged to 
the State. She submitted reluctantly to the arrange- 
ment ; but she finally had to pay the bill of the obse- 
quies, which amounted to eighteen hundred dollars. A 
will, unsigned, was found after his death, in which he 
gave the bulk of his property to the State. 

Mrs. Hancock was acknowledged to possess superb 
beauty. She was also thoroughly high-bred, had a 
courtly manner, and a high-toned spirit that showed 
itself in her conversation. She was always dressed witli 
care, and a dignified propriety, rather than a wish to 
display, was evident. She was heard to say she would 
never forgive a young girl who did not dress to please, 
nor one who seemed pleased with her dress. She died 






MRS. GREENE. 131 

February, 1830, in her eighty-second year, going but 
little into society for some time previous. 

Besides the Quincy family, the most distinguished in 
Boston society were those of Otis, Winthrop, Apthorp, 
Amory, Emery, &c. The Bradfords — of whom Alden 
Bradford was for many years Secretary of State in Mas- 
sachusetts — belonged to the same class. 



A lady noted in society in New England was Cathe- 
rine, the daughter of John Littlefield, born on Block 
Island, in 1753. Her girlhood was chiefly passed in the 
house of Governor Greene, a few miles from Providence, 
commanding a view of Narraganset Bay. Mrs. Greene 
was her aunt. Catherine was a belle — gay, joyous, and 
full of frolicsome humor ; her form was light and grace- 
ful, and she possessed extraordinary quickness of appre- 
hension and activity of mind. Her conversation was 
enriched with knowledge gained, almost by intuition, 
from every source. She had a lively imagination and 
great fluency of speech, with a ready tact that gave her 
irresistible fascination. This bright, volatile, coquettish 
young creature took captive the heart of her kinsman, 
Nathaniel Greene, and lost her own in return. They 
were married in 1774. Little did the bride dream that 
her husband's broad-brimmed hat covered brows which 
would one day be wreathed with living laurels won by 
genius and patriotism. When General Greene took his 
part in the great drama of the Revolution, his wife gave 



182 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

him aid and encouragement. The papers of the day 
notice her presence at head-quarters ; but her home was 
at Coventry, a Rhode Island village, — a princely man- 
sion, on the hanks of one of those small streams that 
form so beautiful a feature in Rhode Island scenery. 
She gave up this house for hospital uses when the army 
before Boston was inoculated for the small-pox. 

General Greene's letters show how much he prized 
the society of his wife. While in winter quarters with 
him, she was very intimate with Mrs. Washington. Fol- 
lowing her husband south, they established their home 
at Mulberry Grove, a plantation presented to Greene by 
the State of Georgia. Her lively letters give a picture 
of the times. After the General's death she removed to 
Cumberland Island, where she lived much in society, 
exercising extensive hospitality. It was Mrs. Greene 
who introduced to the world the invention of the cotton- 
gin, by her patronage of Eli Whitney. 

The incident of her quitting her own house when 
Aaron Burr claimed her hospitality, after his duel with 
Hamilton, leaving the house for his use, and only return- 
ing to it after his departure, illustrates her generous and 
impulsive character. In her later years she retained 
her singular power of fascination, and would hold a 
company in breathless attention with her winning tones 
and brilliant sketches of character or tales of adventure. 
She had, in truth, a faculty of charming all who ap- 
proached her. 

Mary Wooster was the widow of General David 



COUNTESS RUMFORD. 133 

Wooster, killed in Connecticut in the war of the Revo- 
lution. She was the daughter of Dr. Clapp, at one time 
President of Yale College, and was married at sixteen 
years of age. Gifted with beauty and noble intellectual 
powers, well educated, and with a mind stored with a 
great variety of knowledge, she was very prominent in 
society and much sought by admiring friends. In con- 
versation she was uncommonly brilliant. Her piety was 
exemplary, from youth to advanced years ; and when 
she was bereaved of husband and children, and lost her 
fortune, she found in religion a consolation trials could 
not impair. 

Sarah Thompson — the Countess Rumford — who died 
at Concord, New Hampshire, in December, 1852, is 
mentioned by Curwen as a woman who exercised much 
social influence. She was the grand-daughter of Rev. 
Timothy Walker, the first clergyman in Concord, and 
the only daughter of Benjamin Thompson — born in 
1774. Her father left the United States suspected of 
loyalism, and entered into the employ of the Elector of 
Bavaria at Munich, where he received the title of Count 
of the Holy Roman Empire, with a pension for life of 
nearly tw r o thousand dollars a year. To this title he 
added Rumford, the name of his residence at Concord. 
His daughter joined him in London, in 1796, and shared 
his home and fortune till his death in France, in 1814. 
She was in Munich when it was about to be bombarded 
by the Austrian s ; but her father, being Commander-in- 
Chief of the Bavarian forces, succeeded in preventing it. 



134 QUEENS OF AMEKICAN SOCIETY. 

He was held in much honor among the savans of 
Europe ; and the daughter was received with caressing 
attentions among the most select circles in Paris. When 
left an orphan, she inherited the title as well as the 
estates of her father. She went to England and settled 
on an estate at Brompton belonging to her, receiving 
the most marked attentions from many eminent persons 
among the literati. In 1845 she returned to her native 
State. She never married, but passed the remainder of 
her life in a quiet circle of society, aloof from the stir of 
city life, with an adopted daughter for her companion. 
The grounds around her residence were tastefully orna- 
mented with trees and shrubbery. She had considerable 
property, saved from her father's estates, with a pension 
of nearly a thousand dollars a year from the Bavarian 
government for the services rendered by her father. 
This she bestowed chiefly in charity, and, dying at 
seventy-eight, left fifteen thousand dollars for an asylum 
at Concord for widows and female orphans. 



PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY. 135 



V. 



The society of Philadelphia, about the middle of the 
last century, appears to have been divided into two 
classes of families; the first, some of whom had come 
with Penn, adhering to the Quaker tenets, or bound by 
hereditary custom, if not religious faith, to deny the 
world and abjure the pageants of life. Such were the 
Morrises, the Logans, the Shippens, the Lloyds, the 
Pembertons, the Rivingtons, and many other families of 
antiquity in their sect. At a later period came in an- 
other class, chiefly from England ; they had cultivated 
the liberal accomplishments ; among them were men of 
extensive learning, both merchants and professional men ; 
and they were noted for a high degree of social refine- 
ment. Such were the Hamiltons, the Ashetons, the 
Lawrences, the Chews, the Conynghams, the Aliens, the 
Inglises, the Bonds, the Plumsteds, and others. This 
class was strengthened, as wealth and civilization spread, 
by the return of proprietary descendants to the Estab- 
lished Church. Then was added the element of patriot- 
ism, in Revolutionary times, forming another distinct 
class, of such as Bradford, Biddle, Butler, Reed, Boudi- 
not, Mifflin, McKean, &c, comprising many of the pre- 



136 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

ceding, and drawing to themselves, by their own actions, 
public consideration and respect. 

The family of Willing was one of the most promi- 
nent among the English families of the second class 
above mentioned. Their social connections were exten- 
sive and powerful ; and on this account, with the weight 
of personal influence and high character, they enjoyed 
an enviable distinction. The name originated in Ger- 
many, but obtained no eminence till it was borne by 
residents of Philadelphia. The first known of the family 
was Joseph Willing, of Gloucestershire, who married 
Ava Lowre, an heiress. His son Thomas married Anne 
Harrison, and brought his son Charles to America in 
1728. Charles entered into commercial life, and became 
the founder of the family in this country. His house 
stood in Third Street, its grounds occupying an entire 
square, and shaded by primeval oaks. His wife was 
Anne Shippen, grand- daughter of Edward Shippen, the 
first mayor of Philadelphia, and their son was Thomas 
Willing, born in 1731. 

The women of Philadelphia, in the latter part of the 
century, were distinguished for their attractions. The 
Duke de Lauzun speaks enthusiastically of their grace, 
beauty, and intelligence; and the gay Marquis de Chas- 
tellux is warm in his admiration of the ladies who gave 
life to society after the close of the war. Philadelphia 
became the centre of fashionable gayety, as she had been 
the heart of the nation ; and it was found that the rava- 
ges of war had swept away none of the elegance and 



MRS. BINGHAM. 137 

refinement, or the social spirit, by which her coteries 
had been distinguished. One lady, pre-eminent by uni- 
versal acknowledgment, who exercised indisputable sway 
over the manners and pleasures of the metropolis, and 
reigned a queen to whom all vowed allegiance; was 
Anne, the daughter of Thomas Willing. She received 
in the home of her father, who was a man of liberal 
education, the best instruction which could be given, 
and grew up a maiden of wonderful loveliness. She 
passed much time in the family of Washington. At the 
age of sixteen, on the 26th of October, 1780, she was 
married to William Bingham, by Rev. William White, 
afterwards the first Episcopal bishop in Pennsylvania. 
Bingham was United States senator from Pennsylvania, 
and owned large estates. He was congratulated from 
high quarters for having won so fair a bride ; John Jay 
wrote from Spain to felicitate him on his nuptials " with 
one of the most lovely of her sex." A few years after 
the marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Bingham went abroad, and 
spent some time in Prance. Mrs. Bingham was pre- 
sented at the Court of Louis XYI., and attracted much 
attention among the nobles and aristocracy. Miss 
Adams wrote, after mentioning a dinner at which she 
met the Bingham s, in October, 1784, " Mrs. Bingham 
gains my love and admiration more and more every 
time I see her. She is possessed of greater ease and 
politeness in her behavior than any person I have met." 
At a dinner at La Fayette's, some months later, she 
again wrote: "Mrs. Bingham was, as ever, engaging; 



138 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

her dress was of black velvet, with pink satin sleeves 
and stomacher, a pink satin petticoat, and over it a 
skirt of white crape spotted all over with gray fur ; the 
sides of the gown open in front, and the bottom of the 
coat trimmed with paste. It was superb; and the 
gracefulness of the person made it appear to peculiar 
advantage." Mrs. Adams wrote: "Mrs. Bingham has 
been twice to see me. I think she is more amiable and 
beautiful than ever." 

After spending some time at the Hague, Mrs. Bing- 
ham accompanied her husband to England, where "her 
elegance and beauty attracted more admiration than, 
perhaps, was willingly expressed in the old Court of 
George the Third." The reputation of American women 
for beauty was great ; yet Mrs. Adams wrote : " I have 
not seen a lady in England who can bear a comparison 
with Mrs. Bingham." 

Miss Adams wrote from London, February, 1786 : — 

"Mamma Trent to court to present Mrs. Bingham, and papa 
presented Mr. Chew. Mamma says, if admiration could make this 
lady happy, she must be so; for she never saw one so much stared 
at. ' There she goes,' cries one ; ' what an elegant woman !' Some 
gentlemen told mamma she had presented the finest woman they 
had ever seen. I suppose she is not free from vanity, and if not, 
must have been gratified." 

" Lady Talbot is not a Mrs. Bingham, who, taken altogether, is 
the finest woman I ever saw. The intelligence of her countenance, 
or rather, I ought to say, its animation, the elegance of her form, 
and the affability of her manners, convert you into admiration; 
and one has only to lament too much dissipation and frivolity of 
amusements, which have weaned her from her native country, and 
given her a passion and thirst after all the luxuries of Europe. 1 ' 



MES. BINGHAM. 139 

Mrs. Adams afterwards mentions " the dazzling Mrs. 
Bingham and her beauteous sisters" in Philadelphia. 
The Adams family was intimate with the Binghams 
during their stay in London. Miss Adams says of Mrs. 
Bingham : — 

"She is coming quite into fashion here, and is very much 
admired. The hairdresser who dresses us on court-days inquired 
of mamma whether she knew the lady so much talked of here 
from America — Mrs. Bingham. He had heard of her from a lady 
who had seen her at Lord Duncan's. At last, speaking of Miss 
Hamilton, he said, with a twirl of his comb, 'Well, it does not 
signify, but the American ladies do beat the English all to 
nothing.' " 

" I think, from the observation I have made upon those ladies 
from Philadelphia with whom I have been acquainted, that they 
are more easy in their manners, and discover a greater desire to 
render themselves acceptable, than the women of Boston, where 
education appears to be better — and they seem to be sensible of 
their consequence in society. I have seen some good specimens of 
their brilliancy; first, in Mrs. Bingham, and now in Mrs. Stewart." 

During her stay of five years abroad, Mrs. Bingham 
found everywhere the same caressing reception in the 
highest circles. Her immense wealth enabled her to 
live in a style of luxury and display, without which 
beauty, elegance, or worth, would stand, especially in 
England, little chance of recognition. Returning to her 
own country, she seemed resolved to show that she had 
not lost the wish to find herself at home there. Mr. 
Bingham had studied the domestic architecture of Lon- 
don and Paris to advantage, and being desirous of build- 
ing a house in Philadelphia, he selected as a model 
the Duke of Manchester's residence. It was, indeed, a 



140 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

home where taste, wealth, and hospitality might appro- 
priately dwell ; a palace of splendor ; known as " The 
Mansion House," and a credit to the city. It stood in 
Third Street above Spruce, forty feet from the street, 
and approached by a circular graveled carriage-way, 
opened by gates of iron tracery, and shut in by a low 
wall. The grounds were diversified by walks, parterres, 
and shade trees, and were adorned by statuary. They 
covered three acres, and adjoined the houses occupied by 
Mrs. Bingham's father and two of her aunts. In this 
princely abode Mrs. Bingham, who had been distin- 
guished among the ladies in the Presidential court, 
became the centre of a court of her own. In her neigh- 
borhood were the residences of numerous family connec- 
tions, of commanding social influence. The southeast 
was then the fashionable part of the town ; and when- 
ever Mrs. Bingham wished to have a large yet select 
party, she had only to send invitations to her own circle 
of relatives and connections, to have her spacious rooms 
filled with a brilliant assemblage. The house had a 
broad stair-way of fine marble, the pavement of tesselated 
marble; the first of the kind known in America. On 
the left hand were parlors ; on the right, the study ; and 
opposite was the library, separated by a lateral hall. 
The drawing-room and card-rooms were on the floor 
above ; the windows looking on an extensive conserva- 
tory adjoining the lower parlors. There were various 
and extensive domestic offices surrounding the dwelling. 
The furniture and carpets were of French manufacture, 



MRS. BINGHAM. 141 

and the halls were hung with paintings chiefly selected 
in Italy.* 

The Binghams had a country-seat — " Landsdowne " — 
on the west bank of the Schuylkill, where the summers 
were passed. General Washington was a frequent 
visitor, both here and in their town house. The same 
elegant variety, richness, and excellent taste in enter- 
tainment, marked their hospitality in both places. 

One of the customs brought from Paris by Mrs. 
Bingham, and introduced by her into society in Phila- 
delphia, was that of the servants' announcing the names 
of guests, on their arrival at a party, in different places, 
from the hall to the drawing-room. A republican gen- 
tleman who was a stranger to the innovation, — one who 
was afterwards President of the nation, — one evening, 
hearing his name called out repeatedly while he stopped 
to divest himself of his outer garment, cried out, 
"Coming!" "Coming!" and in a louder tone, as he 
heard his name at the drawing-room door, " Coming ! 
as soon as I can get my great-coat off!" 

All that was illustrious in statesmanship or brilliant 
in society was now congregated in Philadelphia. It 
was the residence of the diplomatic representatives of 
European Courts and eminent persons from every quarter 
of the world. Its first circles were composed of those 
who would have ranked highly in any country, and who 
possessed every accomplishment of refined culture. The 

* See "The Republican Cotjbt." 



1-12 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

external luxury and splendor of the society were in 
striking contrast to the unadorned simplicity which had 
marked the sway of Mrs. "Washington. Mrs. Bingham 
" led the ton " in this brilliant world, and was unques- 
tionably at the head of American society ; not only by 
virtue of her husband's political position and her father's 
honorable career in the country's service, but in her own 
personal right. Her style illustrated all that was im- 
posing and superb in the social life; and her acknow- 
" ledged judgment and taste in dress and in the arrange- 
ments of her house, her influence over all with whom 
she came into contact, the splendors with which she was 
ever surrounded, and the aristocratic character of her 
parties, gave her a celebrity which became historical in 
the annals of higher social life in America. 

Her beauty was of a striking and dazzling order ; her 
figure was tall, and her carriage light, airy, and the per- 
fection of grace. Her manners had resistless fascina- 
tion — easy, sprightly, frank, and winning, and inspiring 
with interest all who conversed with her. She was 
indeed a most gifted and favored being, ever smiled 
upon and flattered, courted and served with the alacrity 
of genuine regard ; happy in every change ; awakening 
no envy or jealousy, in spite of her personal and social 
advantages; never the object of unkind feeling or ma- 
lignant aspersion ; giving offense to none, in spite of her 
great ambition to maintain superiority ; pleasing all by 
her manner, even while refusing favors, and, while really 
exclusive, leaving even on the excluded the impression 



MRS. BINGHAM. 143 

of being obliged. This singular charm of tact may 
account for the great traditionary reputation of her 
personal influence, as fresh in recollection now, and 
almost %,s much wondered at, as when she lived. She 
gave entertainments often, and they were ve*ry expensive 
and elaborate, while marked by good taste and elegance 
of style. She had a happy faculty and discretion in 
selecting and grouping her guests, so as to harmonize 
the circle and guard against disagreement. Her dress 
was a model for imitation, such was its exquisite adapta- 
tion and propriety, and its subdued tone combined with 
costliness. 

Thomas Jefferson was one of Mrs. Bingham's ad- 
mirers. He wrote her from Paris, describing the con- 
trast between foreign and domestic fashionable life : — 

"At eleven o'clock, it is day chez madame. The curtains are 
drawn. Propped on bolsters and pillows, and her head scratched 
into a little order, the bulletins of the sick are read and the billets 
of the well. She writes to some of her acquaintances, and receives 
the visits of others. If the morning is not very thronged, she is 
able to get out and hobble round the cage of the Palais Royale ; 
but she must hobble quickly, for the eoiffeurh turn is come, and a 
tremendous turn it is. Happy if he does not make her arrive when 
dinner is half over. The turpitude of digestion a little passed, she 
flutters half an hour through the streets, by way. of paying visit?, 
and then to the spectacles. These finished, another half hour is 
devoted to dodging in and out of the doors of her very sincere 
friends, and away to supper. After supper, cards; after cards, 
bed ; to rise at noon next day, and to tread like a mill-horse the 
same trodden circle over again. Thus the days of life are con- 
sumed, one by one, without an object beyond the present moment; 
ever flying from the ennui of that, yet carrying it with us." — '' In 
America, on the other hand, the society of your husband, the fond 



114 - QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

cares for the children, the arrangements of the house, the improve- 
ments of the grounds, fill every moment with a healthy and useful 
activity. Every exertion is encouraging, because to present amuse- 
ment it joins the promotion of some future good. The intervals of 
leisure are filled by the society of real friends, whose affeotions are 
not thinned to cobweb by being spread over a thousand objects." 

Chastellux mentions a ball at Chevalier de la Lu- 
zerne's, at which " the Count de Damas had Mrs. Bing- 
ham for his partner, and the Viscount de Nouailles, 
Miss Shippen. Both testified respect for the manners 
of the country by not quitting their handsome partners 
the whole evening." 

The Yiscount de Nouailles, brother-in-law to La 
Fayette, in the summer of 1795, came to America in 
company with Mr. Bingham, whose guest he was, 
though he occupied a third-story room in a block of 
buildings at the extreme west end of Bingham's garden. 
He gave a dinner to D'Orleans and other gentlemen of 
rank, using Bingham's plate and kitchen, and being 
waited upon by his servants. The same story was told 
of him as of Louis Philippe, who is said to have lived 
in Philadelphia, and occupied a room over a barber's 
shop, where he once gave a dinner, apologizing for 
seating half his guests on one side of a bed ; he had him- 
self " occupied less comfortable places without the con- 
solation of such agreeable company." The young prince, 
at that time twentv-three years old, was introduced into 
Mr. Bingham's family, and is said to have proposed for 
one of the daughters, but the Senator declined the 
alliance. " Should you ever," he said, " be restored to 



MRS. BINGHAM. 145 

your hereditary position, you will be too great a match 
for my daughter ; if not, she is too great a match for 
you." 

Mr. and Mrs. Bingham were guests at the dinner 
given by General Washington, when he bade farewell to 
the President elect and the heads of the departments. 
Among the other guests were Mr. and Mrs. Liston and 
the Marquis and Marchioness d'Yrujo, Mr. and Mrs. 
Gushing, Mr. Adams, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Jefferson, 
Bishop White, &c. 

The first masquerade ball in Philadelphia was said 
to have been given at Mr. Bingham's. Mrs. Bingham 
did not appear to be fond of theatricals, like Mrs. Adams ; 
she and her set rarely went to the theater, and on that 
account Manager Wignell refused, on any terms, to let 
her a private box. She offered to furnish and decorate 
the box at her own expense, but would keep the key, 
allowing no one to enter without her permission. The 
manager feared to offend the fierce spirit of liberty and 
equality in the masses by such a concession. 

Sir John Oldmixon, celebrated in England as " the 
Bath beau," — rivaling Nash or Brummell, — was then 
flourishing. It was said he was a gardener in 1796, 
and carried his own cabbages to market. His wife, 
formerly Miss George, was an actress ; sang at the 
theater, and returned at night in the vehicle which car- 
ried the vegetables. A ctors then " held their own " in 
society, and a grand-daughter of Franklin is said to have 
married one — Mr. Harwood. 

7 



146 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

During the winter of 1795-6, when Judge Samuel 
Chase was in Philadelphia, a curious story is told of a 
great dinner given to him by Mr. Bingham. The Judge 
was placed on Mrs. Bingham's right hand, and coolly 
adjusted his spectacles to view the superb repast, which, 
unfortunately for him, had been prepared by a French 
cook. Having searched in vain for a familiar dish, he 
turned to the lady, and remarked : "A very pretty din- 
ner, Madam ; but there is not a thing on your table I 
can eat." With her habitual presence of mind and 
urbanity, Mrs. Bingham inquired if she could procure 
any thing more suitable to his taste. "A beefsteak, or 
a piece of roast beef, Madam," was the reply, " will 
please me better than any thing else." A servant was 
called and a word whispered in his ear, whereupon he 
vanished. Very soon he reappeared, bearing a dish of 
roast beef, which Chase attacked with vigor and appe- 
tite, washing it down with a couple of bottles of brown 
stout, in lieu of French wines. Having concluded his 
labors, he turned to his hostess, and with a satisfied air 
exclaimed : " There, Madam, I have made a sensible 
and excellent dinner, but no thanks to your French 
cook." 

This gifted and brilliant woman was early removed 
from the sphere she adorned. Returning from a party 
of pleasure soon after the birth of her only son, exposure 
to cold in a sleigh brought on an illness, which was soon 
discovered to be of a dangerous character. A milder 
climate was recommended ; and a vessel was fitted up 



MRS. BINGHAM. 147 

with care to convey her to the Bermudas. On her 
departure, carried on a palanquin from her superb man- 
sion to this vessel, her friends gathered around her to 
bid farewell, and hundreds thronged to see her. The 
hope of restoration was vain ; after months of gradual 
decline, Mrs. Bingham died in the Bermuda Islands, 
May 11th, 1801, in the thirty-seventh year of her age. 
Mr. Bingham went to England, where he died at Bath 
three years later. His eldest daughter, Anne, married 
Alexander Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton. Maria 
married the Count de Tilly ; afterwards Henry Baring, 
and the Marquis de Bluisel. 



In the winter of 1795-6, Robert Morris, the great 
financier, was in the splendor of his prosperity. He 
had laid the foundation of a palatial residence on the 
south side of Chestnut Street, just above Seventh, in- 
tending to have the building occupy the whole space. 
His home was ever the abode of generous and cordial 
hospitality, and was rendered delightful by his simple 
and affable manners. Mrs. Adams says, in Philadel- 
phia, "I should spend a very dissipated winter if I 
were to accept one-half the invitations I receive, par- 
ticularly to the routs and tea and cards." A passion for 
gambling prevailed at the time, and it was not uncom- 
mon to lose three or four hundred dollars at a sitting. 

Chastellux thus describes a dinner in the then Amer- 
ican fashion : " There are two courses, one comprehend- 



148 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

ing the entrees, the roast meat and warm side-dishes ; 
the other, sweet pastry and confectionery. The cloth 
is then taken off, and apples and nuts are produced; 
healths are drunk ; and coffee is the signal to rise. It 
is an absurd and barbarous practice to call out to each 
individual that you drink his health ! it causes confusion. 
Also, the asking to take wine with one ; the ridiculous 
custom borrowed from England and laid aside by her." 

At the balls given in Philadelphia Mrs. Morris was 
always led in first to supper; the visitor remarks, "as 
the richest woman in the city ; all ranks here being 
equal, and men following their natural bent by giving 
the preference to riches." 



DRESS IN PHILADELPHIA. 149 



VI. 



Some writers of the day comment on the addiction 
of American women to extravagance in dress at this 
period. Count de Rochambeau observed, at the close 
of the war, that " the wives of merchants and bankers 
were clad to the tip of the French fashions, of which 
they were remarkably fond ;" and the Due de Liancourt 
says : " Ribbons please young Quakeresses as well as 
others, and are the great enemies of the sect." 

The women in 1800 wore hoops, high-heeled shoes 
of black stuff, with silk or thread stockings, and had 
their hair tortured four hours at a sitting to get the curls 
properly crisped. The hoops were succeeded by " bish- 
ops " stuffed with horse-hair. In the early days, ladies 
who kept their coaches often went to church in check 
aprons ; and Watson mentions a lady in Philadelphia 
who went to a ball in full dress, on horseback. 

Brissot wrote : " If an idle man could come into 
existence in Philadelphia, on having constantly before 
his eyes the three amiable sisters — Wealth, Science, and 
Virtue, the children of Industry and Temperance — he 
would soon find himself in love with them, and endeavor 
to obtain them from their parents." The Due de Lian- 
court observes : " The Americans have an excessive 






150 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

avidity of becoming rich," and thinks it a mistake to 
suppose pure republican manners prevalent. Perhaps 
as a consequence of enervating luxury, the Abbe Robin 
remarks: "At twenty the American women have no 
longer the freshness of youth; at thirty-five or forty 
they are wrinkled and decrepit. The men are almost 
as premature." And Chevalier Felix de Beaujour: 
" The beauty of American women fades in a moment. 
At the age of twenty-five the form changes ; and at 
thirty all the charms have disappeared. As long as 
they are unmarried they enjoy great liberty; but as 
soon as they have entered the conjugal state they bury 
themselves in the bosom of their families, and appear no 
longer to live but for their husbands." "The manners 
have there established in society distinctions more 
marked than anywhere else; distinctions rendered the 
more odious for being founded on riches, without any 
regard to talents, or even to public functions, j There 
the rich blockhead is more considered than the first 
magistrate ; and the influence of gold is counterbalanced 
by no illusion or reality."/ 

Towards the close of the century, it was noticed that 
the forms of society underwent some change, as the 
leveling process of France began to be felt. Powder 
became unfashionable ; a looser dress was adopted for 
the legs ; the fashion of wearing the hair tied gave place 
to short locks. Dark or black cloth was substituted for 
colored coats, and buckles disappeared. But the style 
of living was not less expensive. Parties were more 



ENTERTAINMENTS. 151 

crowded, and more form and display were seen, with 
less freedom of sociability than ever. 

The Wistar parties, for gentlemen, were commenced 
by Dr. Caspar Wistar, in 1799. He was accustomed to 
call the members of the Philosophical Society once a 
week to his house during the winter. The parties were 
continued till his death, in 1818, and were kept up by 
members afterwards at their several houses. 

The fete of the Mischianza had been the most cele- 
brated that ever took place in Philadelphia. It was 
given by the British officers to Sir William Howe, just 
before he relinquished the command to Sir Henry Clin- 
ton, May 18, 1778. It commenced with a grand regatta, 
followed by a tilt and tournament, wherein the knights 
of the Burning Mountain and the Blended Rose vindi- 
cated the charms of the ladies in whose honor they 
appeared ; a ball and fireworks closing the evening.* 

The next entertainment in order of pre-eminence 
was given on the birthday of the Dauphin, by the French 
Minister, after the close of the war. Weeks of prepara- 
tion preceded it, and hundreds came to see the building 
erected for dancing, fronting sixty feet, the roof sup- 
ported by lofty pillars, painted and festooned. There 
were banners and pictures for internal decorations ; and 
a garden surrounde4 the building, with walks, seats, 
groves, and fountains. Nothing else was talked of in 
the city for ten days. At an early hour a corps of 

* For the particulars of this fete, see " Women of the American Rev- 
olution." 



152 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

hairdressers took possession of the room assigned to the 
city watchmen. Some ladies had their hair dressed 
between four and six in the morning. The company- 
assembled at seven in the evening, ten thousand specta- 
tors thronging the streets. 

"At eight o'clock," says Dr. Rush, "our family entered the 
apartment, received through a wide gate by the Minister, and con- 
ducted by one of his family to the dancing-room. The numerous 
lights distributed through the garden, the splendor of the room, 
the size of the company, which already consisted of about seven 
hundred persons, the brilliancy and variety of their dresses, and 
the bund of music, had, together, an effect which resembled en- 
chantment. Here were to be seen heroes, patriots, and members 
of Congress, in close conversation with each other; Washington 
and Dickinson held several dialogues together; Rutledge and Wal- 
ton from the South, here conversed with Lincoln and Duane from 
the East and the North ; and Mifflin and Reed accosted each other 
with all the kindness of ancient friends. The dancing commenced 
at half-past eight; at nine, fire-works were exhibited; at twelve, 
supper was served in three large tents in the grounds ; before three 
the company had dispersed." 

A lady distinguished in Philadelphia society was 
Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Dr. Thomas Graeme, a 
physician of note, and for a time colonial collector of the 
port. His wife was the daughter of Sir "William Keith, 
the Governor of Pennsylvania. His house, " The Carpen- 
ter Mansion," was rendered attractive and celebrated by 
the talents and accomplishments of Elizabeth, who was 
the center of literary coteries accustomed to meet there. 
She- was sent to Europe for her health, and was intro- 
duced into the best society abroad. She attracted much 
attention by her mental accomplishments, and was par- 



MRS. BACHE. — MIS3 VINING. 353 

ticularly noticed by the King of England. On her 
return to Philadelphia she presided in her father's house, 
which became the head-quarters of literature, refined 
taste, and hospitality. Her husband, Hugh Henry 
Ferguson, a Scotch gentleman ten years her junior, 
espoused the royal cause in the war; his wife was a 
patriot, and their political difference led to a separation. 
Her charity and labors for the soldiers obtained the 
respect of both parties, and she always enjoyed the 
highest social position. 

Sarah, the only daughter of Benjamin Franklin, was 
born in Philadelphia, in September, 1744, married 
Richard Bache in 1767, and was prominent in the best 
society. Her house was the rendezvous for the com- 
mittee superintending the making of shirts for the army. 
In 1792 she accompanied her husband to England; and 
two years afterwards they were settled on their farm 
near the Delaware, where they exercised imbounded 
hospitality for thirteen years. She had an impulsive 
and generous disposition, with cheerful, strong good 
sense, and a ready flow of wit. She was a zealous 
republican, and chid a school-teacher for treating her 
children with peculiar distinction as " young ladies of 
rank." " There is no rank in this country," she said, 
"but rank mutton." 

Miss Yining was a famous belle in Philadelphia. In 
1783 she wrote to Governor Dickinson, complaining that 
the town had lost its gayety with the departure of Con- 
gress. Her rare beauty commanded admiration, while 
7* 



154 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

her intellectual endowments and sparkling wit enter- 
tained the literati. The French officers so praised her 
in their letters, that her name became familiar in Paris ; 
and Queen Marie Antoinette expressed to Jefferson a 
wish to see her at the Tuileries. She had a large cor- 
respondence among the great men of the Revolution. 
When she retired from her place in society, she took 
up her residence in Wilmington, Delaware, where she 
received distinguished visitors, foreigners of rank solicit- 
ing introductions to her. Among the guests she enter- 
tained were the Due de Liancourt and. the Due d'Or- 
leans (Louis Philippe). It is said that General Miranda, 
passing through Wilmington at night, too late for a call, 
left his card for her at the post-office. Her last days 
were passed in seclusion, not exempt from poverty. 

One of the most admired belles of Philadelphia, at a 
period when loyalists were prominent among the higher 
classes, was Margaret, the youngest daughter of Edward 
Shippen, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. Shippen was 
grandson to the first city mayor, in 1701, who had a 
" great and famous orchard, in which reposed herds of 
tranquil deer;" lawns, and a summer-house in the midst 
of the garden, having tulips, pinks, carnations, roses, &c. 
He was said to be " the biggest man, with the biggest 
house, and the biggest carriage in Philadelphia." The 
Marcpiis de Chastellux describes a tea-drinking at the 
house of the Chief Justice, on the first occasion that he 
saw music introduced as an amusement : " Miss Rut- 
ledge?, after Madame de Marbois, played on the harpsi- 



MRS. ARNOLD. 155 

chord ; Miss Shippen sang. The Yicomte de Noua'illes 
took down a violin mounted with harp-strings, and made 
the young ladies dance." At the age of eighteen, in so 
princely a home, belonging to a family distinguished 
among the aristocracy of the day, beautiful, brilliant, 
and spirited, it is no wonder that Margaret was the 
toast of the British officers and the favorite of society, 
called " one of the brightest of the belles of the Mischi- 
anza." The volatile and fascinating young creature, 
accustomed to the pride of life and the homage paid to 
loveliness in high station, was captivated by the splendor 
of Benedict Arnold's equipments and his military osten- 
tation. She became his second wife. Major Andre was 
one of her visitors and correspondents. No evidence, 
however, exists to sustain the accusation of the third 
Vice-President of the United States, that Mrs. Arnold 
" instigated one of the most startling crimes in history." 
Though ambitious, she was not a Lady Macbeth ; and 
there is no proof even of her acquaintance with the dark 
design of her husband. Aaron Burr would have it that 
" the chief miscreant of the American Revolution could 
say, 'Margaret, my wife, she gave me of the tree of 
treason, and I did eat.' ' : But she was not yet nineteen 
when her husband opened the correspondence w r ith Sir 
Henry Clinton ; nor could she have counterfeited the 
anguish described as following the discovery of his 
treason. She found her way back to the shelter of her 
father's house ; but in a few months she was ordered by 
the Executive Council of Pennsvlvania to leave the 



156 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

State, and not return during the war. She followed 
Arnold to New Brunswick, where she resided at St. 
Johns, sad and stricken indeed, but lovely and fascina- 
ting enough to be sought after and admired. Her resi- 
dence was finally in London, where she died in 1804. 

Rebecca Franks, a young lady distinguished for 
beauty, intelligence, and wit, occupied a brilliant posi- 
tion in the society of Philadelphia in the days of the 
Revolution. She was the youngest of three daughters 
of David Franks, a wealthy Jewish merchant. The 
eldest married Oliver' de Lancey, who accepted a com- 
mission in the British army after the outbreak of the 
war ; the second, Andrew Hamilton, owner of " Wood- 
lands," the finest rural residence in Philadelphia. 
Rebecca was more celebrated for wit and repartee than 
any lady of the day. Her pointed shafts spared neither 
friend nor foe, though generally aimed to chastise pre- 
sumption and folly. She was universally courted for the 
charms of her conversation ; General Lee called her " a 
lady who has had every human and divine advantage." 
She was one of the princesses of the " Mischianza." Few 
were able to enter the lists in satire with this scornful 
belle. In a letter from New York, she described social 
life in that city : — 

" You ask a description of Miss Cornelia Yan Home. Her per- 
son is too large for a beauty, in my opinion, and yet I am not par- 
tial to little women. Her sister Kitty is the belle of the family. 
By the bye, few ladies here know how to entertain company in 
their own houses, unless they introduce the card-table. Except 
the Yan Homes, who are remarkable for their good sense and ease, 



MISS FRANKS. • 157 

I don't know a woman or girl who can chat above half an hour, 
and that on the form of a cap, the color of a ribbon, or the set of a 
hoop, stay, or jupon. I will do our ladies, that is, the Philadel- 
phians, the justice to say, that they have more cleverness in the 
turn of an eye than those of New York have in their whole com- 
position. With what ease have I seen a Chew, a Penn, an Oswald, 
or an Allen, and a thousand others, entertain a large circle of both 
sexes ; the conversation, without the aid of cards, never flagging, 
nor seeming in the least strained or stupid. Here in New York, 
you enter a room with a formal set curtsey, and after the howdos, 
things are finished ; all is a dead calm till the cards are introduced, 
when you see pleasure dancing in the eyes of all the matrons, and 
they seem to gain new life. The maidens, if they have favorite 
swains, frequently decline playing, for the pleasure of making 
love ; for, to all appearance, it is the ladies, not the gentlemen, 
who now-a-days show a preference. It is here, I fancy, always 
leap-year. Indeed, scandal says, that in the cases of most who 
have been married, the first advances came from the lady's side, or 
she got a male friend to introduce the intended victim and pass Lor 
off. I suspect there would be more marriages were another mode 
adopted ; they have made the men so saucy, that I sincerely be- 
lieve the lowest ensign thinks he has but to ask and have" ; that a 
red coat and smart epaulette are sufficient to secure a female 
heart." 

Soon after the war, Miss Franks was married to 
Lieu tenant-General Sir Henry Johnston, who had been 
knighted for his gallantry in one of the outbreaks of 
rebellion in Ireland. In 1810 she was living at Bath in 
great style, exercising a liberal hospitality, with all the 
graces and virtues that adorn social life. General Scott 
visited her some years later, with a letter of introduction 
from her great-niece. He remembered hearing of her as 
" the belle of Philadelphia, handsome, witty, and an 
heiress ; also high in toryism and eccentricity." He 
recollected that when Mrs. Washington gave a ball to 



158 QUEEN'S OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

the French Minister, in honor of the recent alliance 
between Louis XVI. and the United States, which had 
led America to unite the cockades of the two countries — 
white and black — Miss Franks had caused this token of 
alliance to be tied to the neck of a dog, and by bribing 
a servant got the animal, thus decorated, turned into the 
ball-room. In 1S16, the vivacious lady, from ill health, 
had become prematurely old ; " a near approach to a 
ghost, but with eyes still bright, and other remains of 
her former self." On receiving the letter of introduc- 
tion, Lady Johnston sent her amiable husband — a fine 
old soldier — to fetch the stranger. Scott was fortunate- 
ly acquainted with her eccentricities. She had been 
rolled out on the lawm in an easy-chair to receive him ; 
and lie was transfixed by her eager gaze. " Is this the 
young rebel ?" were her first words. " Yes, it is," she 
added, quickly ; " the young rebel ; and you have taken 
the liberty to beat his Majesty's troops !" Scott pleas- 
antly parried the impeachment ; but she followed it up 
with specific references. At last the American soldier 
found himself seated beside her, a hand clasped in both 
hers, which were cold and. clammy as death. Suddenly 
she exclaimed : " I have gloried in my rebel country- 
men !" Then, lifting both her hands towards heaven, 
she added : " Would to heaven I too had been a pa- 
triot !" Sir Henry here interposed with a gentle remon- 
strance. Turning on him with the earnestness of truth, 
she said : "I do not — I have never regretted my mar- 
riage! No woman was ever blessed with a kinder — a 



MRS. STOCKTON". — MRS. RUFUS KING. 159 

better husband; but I ought to have been a patriot 
before marriage !" In relating this incident, Scott used 
to say that Lady Johnston's eyes were the only ones free 
from tears. 

The wife of one, and the mother-in-law of another 
siguer of the Declaration of Independence, Mrs. Anuis 
Stockton, of Princeton, New Jersey, adorned high posi- 
tion by elevated character and superior endowments. 
She was the descendant of Elias Boudinot, a French 
Protestant, who fled after the revocation of the edict of 
Nantes. Elias Boudinot of New Jersey was her brother. 
She was born about 1733. After her marriage to Eich- 
ard Stockton, she lived at his seat near Princeton, and 
shared with him the perils and privations incident to 
war. Her husband's letters to her from England, roman- 
tically addressed to his "dearest Emilia," portray the 
most charming of characters. She had refined literary 
taste and cultivation, and was the author of a volume of 
poems. Washington praised her pastoral on the capture 
of Cornwallis, and complimented her talents in several 
letters. Her social influence was acknowledged by 
an extensive circle of friends. She was called " The 
Duchess" for her elegance and dignity. Her daughter 
Julia became the wife of Dr. Benjamin Rush. Mrs. 
Stockton died in 1801. 

Rufus King, in 1786, married Miss Mary Alsop, the 
only child of John Alsop, an opulent merchant of New 
York, and a member of the first Continental Congress. 
She was noted for beauty; having an oval face, with 



160 QUEENS OF AMEKICAN SOCIETY. 

regular features, blue eyes, and a clear brunette com- 
plexion ; black hair and fine teeth. Her movements 
were graceful, her manner was gracious and winning ; 
her voice was music. She possessed quick faculties of 
mind, and was carefully educated. Though reared in 
the lap of indulgence she had an unspoiled nature, and 
had little fondness for display, notwithstanding that she 
was the object of general admiration. 

When the British occupied New York, in 1778, Mary 
went with her father to Middletown, Connecticut, where 
her girlhood was passed. The family returned to New 
York after peace. Mary was but sixteen at the time of 
her marriage. Her grandson, Rufus King, married a 
lady who since, as Mrs. Peters, has become a celebrity 
in Cincinnati ; well known for her active charities and 
zeal in every good work. She was Miss "Worthington. 
In 1867 she accompanied some friends to Europe. 



A region of country near the Hudson, where the old 
aristocratic families are held in reverence, is familiar 
with the name of Blandina Bruyn, the daughter of 
Petras Edmundus Elmendorf, born at Kingston, then 
called Esopus, in 1753. Her mother, Mary Elmendorf, 
was known through a large part of New York, New 
Jersey, and Pennsylvania, having studied medicine that 
she might practise among poor families. She took great 
pains with the education of her daughter, who learned 
to speak and write fluently English, Dutch, and French. 



MRS. BRUYN. 161 

Blandina was engaged to Jacobus S. Bruyn, who after- 
wards became a colonel in the American army ; they 
were married in 1782, and fixed their residence in King- 
scon, where Mrs. Bruyn was a leader in society, liberally 
entertaining many visitors. Her charity and piety are 
traditional in the place. She died in 1832.* 



* The country-seat of Colonel Morris, which became afterwards the 
head-quarters of General Washington — about ten miles from New York 
— was the residence of the singular woman known as Madame Jumel, the * 
wife of Aaron Burr. She lived on Washington Heights, and died in 18G5, 
in her ninety-second year. She was known in the court circles of Prance, 
though she never had any position in American society. She was inti- 
mate with Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, General Knox, La Payette, 
and others among the leaders in the Revolutionary struggle. She met 
Burr when he was a captain in the army, and at Lady Stirling's parties ; 
and it is said that scores of men of high position and talents worshiped 
at her shrine. Many were her escapades and adventures, and marvelous 
tales were told of her. 

She married Stephen Jumel, who amassed in the wine trade a fortune 
that gave him rank among merchant princes. Their residence was for a 
time in Paris; but after Jumel lost his fortune, his wife, in 1822, returned 
alone to New York, and lived on her own estate. Jumel was killed by a 
fall in his seventieth year. 

Colonel Burr was then practising law with great success, though 
seventy-eight years of age. Madame Jumel called on him for legal advice 
about her estate; the acquaintance ripened, and she invited the great 
lawyer to dinner. He was charmed with her, and is reported to have said, 
on handing her to the table. "Madame, I give you my hand; my heart 
has long been yours." At length he proposed, and was rejected; but 
persevered in his suit. Having advanced so far as to obtain an undecided 
"No," he said one day in a jocular manner that he should bring out a 
clergyman to Fort Washington, at a certain time, and then would expect 
a more favorable answer. He came at the time appointed, accompanied 
by Dr Bogart, and took advantage of the lady's embarrassment and dread 
of a now scandal. So they were married, the ceremony being witnessed 
only by the members of the family and the servants, and followed by an 
excellent supper. Some bottles from Jumel's wine-cellar that had not 



162 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Catharine Schuyler was the only daughter of John 
Yan Rensselaer, the great land-holder, called the Patroon 
of Greenbush. She married Philip Schuyler. The fam- 
ily residence was near Albany, and was built by Mrs. 
Schuyler while her husband was in England, about 
1760. It was a large house, ornamented in the Dutch 
style, and was a place of resort for British officers and 
travelers of note during the French war. Fourteen 
French gentlemen, paroled prisoners, were here enter- 
tained at one time. In 1801, Mrs. Schuyler and some 
of her family, visiting Montreal and Quebec, were grate- 
fully welcomed by the children of some of those prison- 
ers. After the surrender of Burgoyne, he and his suite 
were received and entertained by General and Mrs. 
Schuyler, though he had destroyed their elegant coun- 
try-seat near Saratoga. Madame de Biedesel described 

been opened for half a century were produced on the occasion, and the 
party was exceeding merry. 

At Burr's advice, his wife sold out her shares in some Connecticut 
property, and gave the proceeds to him for investment. Texas was then 
beginning to attract the tide of emigration, and Burr embarked the money 
in an enterprise for settling a colony of Germans on a tract of land there. 
The speculation proved a failure, and the title to the lands defective. Burr 
had not mentioned the Texas scheme to his wife, and he refused to account 
for the funds invested. A coolness and estrangement followed. Burr 
continued to speculate and lose his wife's money; her patience was 
exhausted, and she filed a complaint against him, to deprive him of con- 
trol in her affairs. He suffered the proceedings to go by default; but 
they went no further than to restore to the lady sole authority over her 
property. After a few mouths of alternate reconciliation and estrange- 
ment, the marriage was in effect — though never in law — dissolved. 

After the separation, the wife never bore Burr's name, but lived almost 
solitary in her home on the Heights. Her grandchildren inherited her 
property. 



MRS. SCHUYLER. — MBS. HAMILTON. 163 

their reception as that of intimate friends rather than 
enemies. So much delicacy and generosity drew from 
Burgoyne the observation to his host, " You are too 
kind to me, who have done so much injury to you." 
The noble-hearted victor replied : u Such is the fate of 
war ; let us not dwell on the subject." Even from the 
ruins of his beautiful villa the General had written to 
his wife to make preparations for entertaining their late 
foes. The best apartments and an excellent supper were 
provided, and the honors done with a grace that moved 
the British general to tears. 

Like many other woman of her family, Mrs. Schuyler 
was remarkable for vigorous intellect and judgment. 
Many instances of her heroic spirit are recorded in 
another work. Her social influence was widely recog- 
nized, and was transmitted to her accomplished daugh- 
ters. The second of these, Elizabeth, married Alexander 
Hamilton in December, 1780. She was described as " a 
charming woman, who joined to the graces all the can- 
dor and simplicity of the American wife." When Ham- 
ilton was mortally wounded, he said : " Let Mrs. Hamil- 
ton be immediately sent for ; let the event be gradually 
broken to her, but give her hopes." Thus the love of 
his admirable wife was the great man's strongest feeling 
in the hour of death. When he saw her frantic grief, 
he remonstrated with her gently : " Remember, my 
Elizabeth, you are a Christian." His residence was at 
the corner of Wall and Broad Streets, opposite Federal 



164 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Hall. His country-seat on the island was called " The 
Grange." 

There was a story of Mrs. Hamilton's having met 
Burr in 1822, at a dinner on board a steamboat, and 
swooning from the shock; but it was untrue. Parton 
says she met the slayer of her husband on a small steam- 
boat between New York and Manhattanville, but that 
nothing unusual occurred. Mrs. Hamilton is said to 
have founded an orphan asylum in New York. She 
was one of the few ladies for whom Talleyrand professed 
deep respect and admiration. 

During the hostilities between France and England, 
after the French Revolution, a French man-of-war, with 
the First Consul Napoleon's brother, Jerome Bonaparte, 
on board, was chased by two English frigates into the 
harbor of New York. The future king of Westphalia 
was thus constrained to visit the United States. He 
was received in different cities with extraordinary marks 
of attention. Hamilton made a great dinner for him in 
New York, while he lived at "The Grange." The 
company waited long, after assembling, for the host, 
who did not appear, to the chagrin of Mrs. Hamilton 
and the disappointment of the distinguished guest. 
After creating much uneasiness by the delay, Hamilton 
at length arrived and finished a hasty toilet ; and the 
tact with which he made his graceful apologies to the 
company removed all embarrassment. On that occasion^** 
he had a lively chat in French with Miss Patterson, of 



MADAME BONAPARTE. 165 

Baltimore. Bouaparte lost his heart to this beautiful 
young lady. 

It is a subject for wonder that Napoleon should have 
been blind to the capabilities of the American wife of 
Jerome Bonaparte. With her airy manner, her beauty, 
and her wit, so fair and piquante, she would have made 
an excellent princess. Jerome, who had been sent to 
sea, assumed the airs of a prince in Baltimore. Eliza- 
beth Patterson was the daughter of a rich and respected 
merchant, of a family belonging to the aristocracy. In 
birth and education she was the equal of Jerome ; in 
intellect and character, his superior. With her father's 
consent, the marriage was celebrated December 25th, 
1803, by Bishop Carrol, Roman Catholic Bishop of 
Baltimore. A few months passed in wedding festivities 
and social gayeties. 

The First Consul was declared Emperor before 
Jerome received his answer to the announcement of his 
marriage with the fair American. A French law existed 
prohibiting the marriage of any French subject under 
twenty-five without the consent of his guardians ; and, 
availing himself of this, the Emperor refused to recog- 
nize his brother's marriage, and summoned him home, 
forbidding the French vessels to give Madame Bonaparte 
a passage, and threatening her with arrest if she dared 
accompany her husband to his own country. A pension 
of sixty thousand francs was offered her, on condition of 
her not assuming the name of Bonaparte. Jerome took 
her to Lisbon, where he left her, while he went to Turin 



166 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

to meet his imperial brother. With a meanness of soul 
no royalty could cover, he offered to give up wife and 
child, repudiating his marriage, and submitting to the 
will of Napoleon, who gave him to wife a German 
princess, and made him king of Westphalia. Madame 
Bonaparte was left unprotected and without provision in 
a foreign country, not yet eighteen, and with a new-born 
infant. Abandoned by her husband, subjected to the 
bitterest outrage, the legality of her marriage denied, 
stripped of means, and flung upon the world, she yet 
managed to sustain her difficult position with a calm 
spirit and scornful courage. She was in Paris in 1816, 
and much in society ; the most distinguished among the 
literati belonging to her circle. In the autumn of 1819, 
she wrote to Lady Morgan, with whom she was intimate, 
that she had "heroically resolved to support the ennui 
of her fate in America," but was compelled to go abroad 
for the means of education for her son. 

" You know," she says, " we have been nearly ruined 
in America by commercial speculations ; and even I 
have suffered, as my tenants are no longer able to pay 
me the same rents, and the banks have been obliged to 
diminish the amount of yearly interest." Speaking of 
her son, she says : " His father never has and never 
will contribute a single farthing towards his mainte- 
nance. We have no correspondence since the demand I 
made two years ago, which was merely that he would 
pay some part of his necessary expenditure. This he 



MBS. WILSON. 167 

positively refused ; therefore I consider myself authorized 
to educate him in my own way." 

Jerome Bonaparte, in later years, lived on familiar 
terms in London with Lady Morgan's circle. Vain, 
selfish, inconsiderate, and extravagant, he owned no 
obligation but his own whims. In 1849 Madame Bona- 
parte wrote from Baltimore to Lady Morgan : " There is 
nothing here worthy of attention save the money-market. 
Society, conversation, friendship, belong to older coun- 
tries, and are not yet cultivated in any part of the United 
States which I have visited. You ought to thank your 
stars for your European birth ; you may believe me when 
I assure you it is only distance from republics which 
lends enchantment to the view of them. A residence 
of a few months in the Etats Unis would cure the most 
ferocious republican of the mania of republics." Never- 
theless, the evening of her life passes serenely in Balti- 
more. Beyond fourscore, she enjoys excellent health, 
which she attributes, in part, and no doubt justly, to 
early hours. Her habits are active, and she is able to 
enjoy the visits of her friends and strangers. 



Mrs. Wilson was celebrated in New Jersey, both in 
the days of her girlhood and widowhood. She was the 
daughter of Colonel Charles Stewart, and was born in 
1758, at Sidney, the residence of Judge Johnston, her 
maternal grandfather. The old mansion was one of the 
most stately and aristocratic of colonial residences in 



1GS QUEENS OF AMERICAN" SOCIETY. 

that section of New Jersey. Its square, massive walls 
and heavy portals, made for defence against the Indians, 
formed a stronghold for the wealthy proprietor, his rela- 
tives and dependents for miles around. " The big stone 
house" was in fact extensively noted as a place of refuge 
from danger. For thirty years before the Revolution, 
Judge Johnston was chief magistrate of that section of 
the colony, holding court every week in his spacious 
hall. The house was situated on an elevated terrace, 
overhung by parklike woods, at the confluence of the 
Capulory and a branch of the Raritan. Colonel Stewart 
had a place adjoining this estate. His hospitality was 
really unlimited; besides that his house was the resort 
of choice spirits in intellect and public influence, the 
stranger and the wanderer " were almost compelled to 
come in." 

Miss Stewart always presided at his bountiful table. 
In 1776 she married Robert Wilson, a young Irishman 
of the Barony of Innishowan, and went with him to 
Philadelphia. Widowed after three years of married 
life, she returned to her residence at Hackettstown, 
where her situation was favorable for observation and 
knowledge of important military movements. She here- 
entertained the leading spirits of the Revolution. Wash- 
ington, La Fayette, Generals Greene, Gates, Maxwell, 
and others, were her frequent guests. On one occasion 5 
she had ordered dinner provided for thirty or forty, 
when news was privately brought to her that General 
and Mrs. Washington were coming, escorted by a troop 



MRS. WILSOK 169 

of "horse. She was soon ready to welcome them. The 
party stayed till the afternoon of next day, and crowds 
came to see the chief. To gratify the people, Mrs. 
Wilson had a fine horse brought up, and invited the 
General to go out and inspect it. On another occasion, 
when there was a similar crowd, a tory lady obtained 
permission to stand in the hall while the General passed 
through, and was so much affected by the majesty of his 
deportment that she discarded her loyalism. 

In her journeys to and from the camp, Mrs. Wash- 
ington stopped to visit Mrs. Wilson. During the Pres- 
idency of Washington, when Mrs. Wilson came to 
Philadelphia with her daughter and entered society, she 
was distinguished by particular attentions from his 
family. 

Her father's house was robbed by bandit tories in 
1783 * Till his death in 1800, Mrs. Wilson continued 
at the head of his family, and in the exercise of her 
proverbial hospitality. General Maxwell of New Jersey 
was a constant visitor. She was often heard to express 
regret that full justice had not been done to this valued 
friend by some impartial biographer. "As a soldier 
and a patriot, he had few superiors," she was wont to 
say ; " and in integrity, strength of mind, and kindness 
of heart, but few equals." She saw him first at a review 
of his regiment, the second raised in ISTew Jersey. He 
distinguished himself in many battles, and testimony is 

* See " Women of the American Revolution." General Maxwell was 
the grand-uncle of the author of this work. 
8 



170 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

borne to his high character and services, in numerous 
letters and journals of the day. Before the close of the 
war he resigned his commission, in displeasure at the 
appointment over him of an inferior officer. His death 
took place at the house of Colonel Stewart. 

For fifteen years after her father's death, Mrs. Wilson 
devoted her time to the settlement of his large estates, 
and the care of two orphan nephews, one of whom was 
the distinguished missionary and author, Rev. Charles 
Stewart. In 1808 she removed to Cooperstown, New 
York ; but her last years were spent at " The Lake- 
lands," the beautiful residence of her daughter, near 
that town. Hers was a lovely close of life, universally 
respected and honored; it might better be called a 
ripening for immortality. 



MES. BEEKMAN. 171 



VII. 

Olofp Stevenson Yan Cobtlandt, the ancestor of 
a distinguished family, died in this country about 1683, 
leaving seven children. Two years later, his eldest son 
obtained from Governor Dougan a patent for large tracts 
of land purchased from the Indians in Westchester, Put- 
nam, and Duchess Counties. The old-fashioned stone 
mansion that stood on the banks of the Croton — known 
as the Cortlandt Manor House — was the residence of the 
family for many years preceding the Revolution, and it 
was here that Cornelia, second daughter of Pierre Yan 
Cortlandt and Joanna Livingston, was born, in 1752. 
Her father, a zealous patriot, was Lieutenant-Governor 
of New York under George Clinton, from 1777 to 1795. 
Her husband was Gerard G. Beekman ; and their home, 
after marriage, was in New York, till the storm of war 
drove them back to Croton. When the Peekskill Manor 
House, a large brick building two miles north of Peeks- 
kill, was completed, the Beekmans removed thither, 
remaining during the war. It was a picturesque spot, 
but too convenient, as a place of encampment for the 
army, not to be exposed to peril and aggression. Of 
these Mrs. Beekman had her full share from the tories ; 
on one occasion, when she was constrained to fly, finding 



172 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

the house despoiled of every thing on her return. Her 
social qualities and unbounded hospitality made her 
famous throughout the country. The leading Ameri- 
can officers were entertained, and one room was called 
" Washington's " — the house having been his and Gen- 
eral Patterson's head-quarters. The charity and kind- 
ness of Mrs. Beekman were as widely known as her hos- 
pitality; and the poor of the country blessed her for 
many acts of self-sacrificing generosity. The trials and 
privations she endured for her patriotism, and the depre- 
dations with which her property was visited, are de- 
scribed in another work.* 

• The lands in the manor of Philipsburgh, having been 
vested in the State of New York by the attainder of the 
owners, were sold in parcels; and Mr. Beekman pur- 
chased the tract in the vicinity of Tarrytown in which 
stood the old Manor House, to which he removed his 
family in 1785. " Castle Philipse" was the ancient resi- 
dence of the lords of Philipsburgh, and strongly fortified, 
in the early days of the colony, for defense against the 
Indians. The embrasures, or port-holes, now form the 
cellar windows. "With additions made by Rodolphus 
Philipse, this fort was a convenient dwelling ; looking 
ou the old Dutch church built in 1099 by Frederick 
Philipse and Catharina Yan Cortlandt his wife. Tra- 
dition says, while superintending its erection, she rode 
from New York on horseback, on moonlight nights, 

* " Women of the American Revolution." 



MRS. BEEKMAN. 173 

mounted on a pillion behind her brother, Jacobus Yan 
Cortlandt. This church, which was struck by lightning, 
and rebuilt with modern improvements, is described in 
" The Legend of Sleepy Hollow " with the wide, woody 
dell, and the bridge over the shaded stream, where 
Ichabod Crane met with his adventure. Mrs. Beekman 
often expressed her indignation that Irving had given 
the name of " Sleepy Hollow " to a spot so near her own 
residence, when the ravine on the other side of the hill 
was the actual locality of the legend. The Pocanteco, or 
Mill River, wanders here, replenished by crystal rills, 
through a region of romantic beauty, by dark woodlands, 
over grassy meadows, and beneath rugged heights. The 
Manor House was fronted by trees surrounding a silver 
sheet of water ; and near it was the old mill, with its 
moss-covered roof, where many bushels of grain were 
ground free of toll for the poor. The windows com- 
manded a most picturesque view of the landscape 
through which the stream wound, to lose itself in the 
bosom of the Hudson. Here passed the later years of 
Mrs. Beekman's life, in the midst of a circle of friends, 
to whose improvement and happiness she contributed. 
She was well pleased to welcome La Fayette on his last 
visit, and talk with him of days gone by. She survived 
her husband many years, and died in the midst of loving 
kindred, in her ninety-fifth year. Her funeral was at- 
tended by an immense concourse, in carriages, on horse- 
back, and on foot. The hearse was drawn by two white 
horses with sable trappings, while the tolling of the old 



174 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

church bell broke the silence. She was known as an 
accomplished lady " of the old school." With steadfast 
principles, she had a lofty sense of honor ; with force of 
will and stern resolution, a heart alive to all kindly feel- 
ings. In her prime she was noted for beauty of person, 
refinement, and dignified courtesy ; while her conversa- 
tion was brilliant and interesting. Amid her stores of 
anecdote were thrilling tales of the olden time. Her 
mental faculties were unimpaired to the last ; though 
her sight failed. Calmly she awaited death, with the 
clear faith of a Christian, and, while counting the failing- 
beats of her pulse with one hand, signed her name with 
the other, shortly before she breathed her last. Of her 
brothers and sisters, General Pierre Yan Cortlandt and 
Mrs. Yan Rensselaer alone survived her. Her daughter 
was Mrs. De Peyster, and her son was Dr. Beekman of 
Tarrytown. 

Mrs. Gates, the wife of General Gates, was his intel- 
ligent and efficient helpmeet, managing his house and 
estate in his absence. She was Miss Phillips, the daugh- 
ter of a British officer. She and General Gates lived for 
years in Yirginia, but afterwards at their country-seat — 
"Rose Hill" — near New York, where they exercised 
almost unlimited hospitality. "My Mary" was always 
quoted with deference by the General, and had a frank 
welcome for his friends. 



MUS. BENJAMIN II. FIELD. 175 

Mks. Field, the grand-daughter of Cornelia Beekman, 
has the blood of the most distinguished families in 
America in her veins. The De Peysters, Livingstons, 
Beekmans, Yaii Cortlandts, and Yan Rensselaers, among 
whose branches the intermarriages would puzzle a gene- 
alogist, were all more or less closely connected with her 
ancestors. It is curious to trace back such a descent. 
Taking that of De Peyster — one of the French Protest- 
ant families driven from their native land by the perse- 
cution of Charles IX. — we find the first American resi- 
dent to be Johannes de Peyster, a native of Haarlem, 
and a merchant of wealth and respectable standing. He 
was descended from a long line, and filled various posi- 
tions in the church and magistracy ; being Deputy 
Mayor of New Amsterdam in 1677. Portions of mas- 
sive and elegant plate, and gems of art in the way of 
pictures, brought by him from Holland, are preserved by 
his descendants. He was assessed among the wealthiest 
inhabitants of the city, and his name is chronicled in 
connection with movements of importance in the colony. 
The office of Schepen was held by him ; and after the 
cession of the Dutch colony to England, he was promo- 
ted to the highest offices in the municipality. Two of 
his sons and a son-in-law were successively Mayors of 
~New York. Of the sons, Abraham was a prominent 
politician, of great wealth, and one of the largest owners 
of real estate in the colony. His wife was Caterina De 
Peyster, who was married to him in Holland in 1684. 
He was one of Leisler's adherents in the revolution of 



176 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

1689 ; was Judge, and then Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court, and died in 1728. His son, Colonel Abraham De 
Peyster, at different times advanced large sums for 
Government use. He was a friend of Bellamont and 
William Tell the patriot. His eldest son, Abraham, 
succeeded him in the office of Treasurer of the Province 
of New York about 1721, and his eldest daughter, Cath- 
arine, was married to Philip Van Cortlandt, whose son 
was the well-known Lieutenant-Governor Pierre Yan 
Cortlandt, of Croton. His daughter, Elizabeth, was the 
wife of Hon. John Hamilton, the -Governor of New 
Jersey. His seventh son, Pierre Guillaume De Peyster, 
married Catharine Schuyler, the sister of Peter Schuyler, 
who was famous for his extraordinary influence among 
the Five Nations of Indians. The second son of this 
Pierre Guillaume was the distinguished Colonel Arent 
Schuyler De Peyster, of the British army, whose services 
secured the overthrow of French influence in the great 
Northwest, thus giving the empire of the lakes to the 
Anglo-Saxon race. Abraham, who held the office of 
Treasurer forty years, had a descendant in the British 
army, who met with marvellous accidents. He was 
blown up, and buried for more than an hour, by the 
explosion of a mine at the siege of Valenciennes ; swal- 
lowed up twice by the explosion of another mine in front 
of the French works near Menin, and so completely cov- 
ered that only the fringe of his sash protruded from the 
ground, leading, after a long search, to the recovery of 



MRS. BENJAMIN H. FIELD 177 

his body. A few days afterwards he fell in action at 
Lincelles, in 1793. 

The Colonel Arent Schuyler De Peyster alluded to 
was remarkable as a soldier and diplomatist. The Brit- 
ish government owed to him its vast Northwest terri- 
tory. He wielded a vigorous pen, and had a poetical 
controversy with Burns through the Dumfries Journal. 
One of Burns's fugitive pieces, addressed to him in 1796, 
began — 

'•My honored Colonel, deep I feel 
Tour interest in the "poet's weal. 
All, how sma' heart ha' I to speel 

The steep Parnassus, 
Surrounded thus by bolus pill 

And potion glasses." 

This really " wonderful man " was buried with honors 
in Dumfries. His nephew, namesake, protege, and 
intended heir, one of the first American circumnaviga- 
tors, sailed twice round the world, doubling the Cape of 
Good Hope fifteen times, and discovering the De Peyster 
Islands. 

Frederick, the son of James De Peyster and Sarah 
Reade, was born in 1758, and married Helen Hake, the 
daughter of the claimant of the title of Lord Hake, and 
the grand-daughter of Robert Gilbert Livingston. His 
second wife was Ann, daughter of Gerard G. Beekman, 
and grand-daughter of Pierre Yan Cortlandt, of Croton. 
He had one son and seven daughters, of whom the 
youngest was Catherine Matilda Van Cortlandt De Pey- 
ster, the lady of whom we make brief mention, as one of 

8* 



178 QUEENS OF AMERICAN" SOCIETY. 

the few Americans who can look back upon the wonder- 
ful deeds of distinguished ancestors, and refer to a thick 
volume of genealogy. 

Miss De Pejster was carefully educated, and from 
childhood associated with the numerous connections of 
her family who have their residences on the Hudson and 
in New York. In 1838, she married Mr. Benjamin 
Hazard Field, a descendant of Sir John Field, the 
astronomer. He is the owner of the tract of land in 
Westchester County which has been kept in the family 
over two hundred and fifty years ; but his residence has 
been chiefly in New York, where Mrs. Field has hospita- 
bly entertained numerous friends from time to time, and 
devoted herself to the care of her two children. In 1863, 
her " silver wedding " was celebrated by a very large 
party and the offering of splendid presents. A large 
mirror over the mantel was encircled by a plateau of 
green moss, suitable to the Christmas season, with the 
letters, " Silver Wedding," formed by rose-buds, through 
the center of the half circle. Rich bouquets and baskets 
of flowers were ranged on either side, and on each side 
the corresponding mirror in the hall ; the reflection hav- 
ing a fine effect when the folding-doors were thrown 
open. Poetry, as well as flowers, adorned the festive 
occasion. The Bishop of Western New York, Rev. 
Arthur Cleveland Coxe, gave to Mrs. Field some im- 
promptu verses, referring to another gay party which 
they had mutually enjoyed when he was a youth, not 



MRS. BENJAMIN H. FIELD. 179 

yet devoted to the sacred calling. Even an early effu- 
sion from such a mind is worth preserving. 

TO MRS. B. H. FIELD. 

11 1 take your word — it must be so, 
This is your silver wedding-day ! 
I thought we still were young — but lol 
My hair is turning silver-gray. 

" And, now you mention it, the time 

Comes back to mind, and that gay board, 
When first I prophesied, in rhyme, 
Ben should be soon your wedded lord. 

" Merry we spoke and merry laughed ; 

And bright your crimson blushes glowed, 
As foaming bumpers then we quaffed, 
And wished you life's most flowery road. 

" Full soon the oracle came true. 

But scarce can I believe mine ears, 

When, now, once more it comes to view, 

Well kept for flve-and-twenty years. 

"So lasts and lives the generous wine; 
And so, well kept, the vintage flows 
Afresh, when years are sped, and fine 
And mellow too its flavor grows 1 

" I did not pledge so long a lease 

Of love and joy, your destined fate ; 
Though married bliss and home-born peace 
I knew full well would bless your mate. 

" For years 'tis God alone can give : 
And solemn must the questions be, 
How long together ye shall live ? 
Who shall your golden wedding see? 



180 QUEENS OP AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

" How long shall yet the merry ring 

Of friends that saw your gladsome start 
Unbroken last ? What year shall bring 
To one, or all, the broken heart? 

"With Heaven still let the secret rest! 
Happy, if with assurance calm 
We wait, each one — to be a guest 
At the great wedding of tJie Lamb." 



SOCIETY IN CHABLESTON. 181 



VIII. 

The revocation of the edict of Nantes, in the days of 
Louis XI Y., drove from their homes thousands of the 
best among the French population. Many of those who 
sought refuge in America settled in the Carolinas, where 
their industry created homes for their families. Among 
these were the Hugers, the Petigrus, the Desaussures, 
the Gourdins, and others eminent in society. In the 
Revolution all adhered to the cause of the patriots. 

Charleston, in South Carolina, was in advance of any 
other Southern city as the seat of social elegance and 
refined and generous hospitality. The private residents 
were so liberal in entertaining strangers that inn-keepers 
complained of their business suffering. The ladies wore 
the rich and tasteful costumes of the middle of the 
century ; and their milliners and tailors^kept up commu- 
nication with Paris, as the preference was given to 
French fashions. From four o'clock in the afternoon 
business was given up, and the people thought only of 
amusement. There were two gaming houses, which 
were always full. The women were not so handsome as 
in Philadelphia, but were interesting and agreeable. At 
a public concert and ball given when "Washington was 
in Charleston, they wore bandeaux of white ribbon inter- 



182 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

woven in the head-dress, with heads of Washington 
painted on thein, and the motto, in gilt letters, " Long 
live the President." 

Among the Charleston ladies most prominent in 
society, some loyalist women formed the material of the 
large parties given by the leading officers of the British 
army. Local tradition remembers among them, as belles 
of the city during its occupation by the royal troops, the 
Misses Harvey ; three sisters, of rich, exuberant beauty, 
and wild, passionate temper. "Moll Harvey," as she 
was familiarly called, was a splendid woman, with dark, 
Cleopatra-like eyes, and tresses long, massive, and glossy 
black. " A more exquisite figure never floated through 
the mazes of a dance." Her intellect was subtle, and 
she was keen and quick at repartee, free of fancy, and 
of a bold and reckless spirit. It is said that one of her 
flirtations was with Prince "William, afterwards William 
IY., then a lieutenant in the navy. The prince became 
madly in love with her, and the rumor went that he pro- 
posed a secret marriage ; but her proud spirit would be 
content only with public espousals. Another royalist 
lady was Miss Mary Roupell, a proud beauty, and 
haughty as a queen. Paulina Phelps was an heiress, 
and of highly respectable family ; she made a conquest 
of Major Archibald Campbell — " Mad Archy," as he was 
termed. 

The fashionable Mrs. Eivington was the widow of a 
wealthy planter, and lived in Broad Street. Her hus- 
band had been one of the royal counsellors for the pro- 



MRS. RIVINGTON. — MRS. SINGLETON. 183 

vince. She was a fiery tory, and led the ton among 
them all, ruling with absolute sway as long as the Brit- 
ish had possession of Charleston, and turning her back 
on the Eutledges, Gadsdens, and other Whig families. 
She was indeed an important acquisition to the garrison. 
She was wealthy, fair, and forty, though not fat; her 
suppers were excellent. Thus Cornelia Bivington had 
numerous admirers, but rejected all matrimonial over- 
tures. Having suffered as a wife, she took revenge as a 
widow, and the stout majors of foot who besieged her 
heart were compelled to sigh in vain. She gave levees 
for conversation and evening parties ; and at her "morn- 
ings" her rooms were open from eleven to one. 

Mrs. Richard Singleton was sprung of the best Vir- 
ginia stock, and was devoted to the American cause. 
Her husband had lost his life in the last struggle with 
the French, when the Indians ravaged the frontier. 
Her house was in Church Street near Tradd, and it was 
a favorite point of meeting with the patriots. " Hither, 
in the dark days that found their husbands, sons, or 
brothers in exile, or in camp, or in the prison-ship, came 
the Kutledges, the Laurens, the Izards, and most of the 
distinguished families of the low country of South Caro- 
lina, to consult as to the future, to review their con- 
dition, to consider their resources ; and, if no more, to 
' weep their sad bosonfs empty.' " Among these "Whig 
ladies were the wife of General Gadsden, a dame of 
stately pride ; Mrs. Savage and Mrs. Parsons, described 
by the witling as " tragedy queens," &c. ; and the names 



184 QUEENS OP AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

of Edwards, Horry, Ferguson, Pinckney, and Elliott, 
were represented with dignity and patriotism. They all 
attended Mrs. Singleton's " evenings." Grave studies 
occupied their time ; their work was to go continually 
from the city to the interior, gathering reports of the 
signs of the times, and conveying intelligence, and some- 
times ammunition, to friends in the army, or devising 
schemes for the deliverance of the city. Thus the social 
assemblages sometimes led to large results. Notwith- 
standing political troubles, Charleston was gay at that 
time ; there were fetes chamjjefres, and brilliant evening 
parties; parties and picnics for Haddrill's, Sullivan's, 
James's, and Morris Islands ; chives into St. Andrews, 
Goose Creek, and Accabee, &c. Tradition remembers a 
grand ball given in a mansion in Ladsden's Court, then 
occupied by Biddulph, the paymaster of the British 
forces. The whole court was lighted up, and every 
room was filled with the select of the garrison and the 
distinguished of the city, without regard to politics, so 
far as ladies were concerned. Mrs. Brewton, a patriotic 
woman, celebrated for her talent for repartee, was there. 
A young officer of the Guards offering to take letters for 
her to Mrs. Motte, her sister-in-law, she replied : " Thank 
you, Lieutenant, I should like much to write, but I 
really have no wish to have my letters read at the head 
of Marion's brigade." It was believed that the same 
officer's capture, which really occurred on his expedition, 
was owing to the secret intelligence conveyed by Mrs. 
Brewton ; and she was expelled from the city. 



BALL IN CHARLESTON. Ig5 

The story went, that "Mad Archy" invited the 
handsome heiress, Miss Paulina Phelps, to take a drive 
to Goose Creek. The rector of the parish, Mr. Elling- 
ton, lived there, and was seen on the piazza as they 
drove up. Campbell flung the reins to a servant, sprang 
out, and lifted out Paulina, who seemed in extreme 
agitation, for she had no sooner reached the piazza than 
she sank into a chair, and faintly asked for a glass of 
water. Campbell was in great haste to be married; he 
had laid a wager; the lady said nothing, but seemed 
terribly frightened; the parson was in rare embarrass- 
ment. At last « Mad Archy » drew out a pistol. « You 
must marry us directly, or Pll blow your brains out!"* 
he exclaimed. There was no choice. They were shown 
mto the parlor; the books were prepared, and the cere- 
mony was performed; the lady afterwards protesting 
that she was surprised and terrified into acquiescence. 

Another ball given by Colonel Cmden, who then 
had the spacious mansion of General Pinckney, on East 
Bay, was long remembered as the greatest display of the 
season. The illuminations were brilliant, the gardens 
being absolutely draped with light. At the end of 
every avenue the lights were multiplied from pyramidal 
lusters of steel bayonets, burnished muskets, and sabers 
grouped in stars and crescents. The guests were nu- 
merous, and invited from both parties. Rousing bowls 
of punch furnished refreshment, and from one splendid- 

* Mr. W. G. Simms. 



ISO QUEENS OP AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

ly enameled vase on a table, which held several gallons, 
it was served in large cups of filagreed china. An inci- 
dent that occurred gave occasion for sundry witticisms ; 
Miss Mary Roupell was leaning against a window-seat, 
when the sash fell heavily upon her wrist. She swooned 
with the pain. A Mr. Stock, in his anxiety to revive 
her, seized the mammoth howl of punch, and threw its 
contents over her face. Major Barry wrote the follow- 
ing epigram on the occasion: — 

"When fair Roupell lay fainting in her pain, 
' Oh, what,' cry all, ' will bring her to again ?' 
' What ! — what !' says Stock, ' but punch — a draught divine I 
'Twill ease her pain: it always conquered mine 1' " 

Rebecca Motte, celebrated for her heroic conduct m 
giving Lee the bow and arrows to fire her dwelling when 
it was occupied by the British, was the daughter of 
Robert Brewton, and was married in 1758. Her two 
eldest daughters married, in succession, General Thomas 
Pinckney ; the third was the wife of Colonel William 
Alston, of Charleston. Her descendants are among the 
most distinguished families in South Carolina. They 
cherish her name with pride and affection, regarding her 
fame as a rich inheritance. She died in 1815, at her 
plantation on the Santee. 

Mrs. Gibbes, the wife of Robert Gibbes, lived in a 
beautiful house near Stono River, on St. John's Island, 
two hours sail from Charleston. The extensive lawn, 
the river walks, the live oaks and orange-trees, and 
flower-gardens, were pleasant adjuncts; and "Peaceful 



MRS. GIBBES. — MRS. ELLIOTT. 187 

.Retreat" was the seat of elegant hospitality. Every 
luxury art could famish was added to the beauties of 
natural scenery, and a cultivated taste presided over all. 
The fame of this noble country-place induced some of 
the British to resolve to transfer themselves into such 
desirable quarters, and one night they landed with the 
intention of forming their establishment. Mrs. Gibbes 
hastily dressed herself and the children, her husband 
being a cripple from gout, and prepared to receive the 
enemy. "When the soldiers advanced, the door was 
thrown open, discovering the invalid surrounded by his 
helpless family. During the stay of the intruders, Mrs. 
Gibbes continued to preside at her table, with a digni- 
fied courtesy that kept the rudest in reverence. When 
the American authorities sent two galleys to dislodge 
the British, she removed her family in haste to a planta- 
tion three miles distant. The heroic conduct of her 
eldest daughter, who went back to save a child, and 
carried him in her arms through the fire of the soldiery, 
has been the theme of song and story.* Mrs. Gibbes 
had a house in Charleston, but during the latter years 
of her life resided at Wilton, the country-seat of Mrs 
Barnard Elliott. 

The name of Mrs. Barnard Elliott is familiar in 
South Carolina. Her maiden name was Susannah- 
Smith ; she was the daughter of Benjamin Smith, 
Speaker of the Provincial Assembly. In June, 1776, 

* See "Women of the American Revolution" for a memoir, with 
details of the incident. 



188 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

she presented two standards of richly embroidered colors 
to Colonel Moultrie's regiment of infantry, with an ap- 
propriate speech, and received thanks. One of these 
was planted by Jasper on the works before Savannah, 
three years afterwards ; the gallant soldier received his 
death-wound, and sent a message to Mrs. Elliott that he 
had lost his life supporting her colors. 

Susannah was an orphan heiress, and brought up by 
her aunt, Rebecca Motte, of patriotic memory. The 
niece also gave her sympathies and efforts to her coun- 
try's cause. General Greene acknowledged her services. 
She was a beauty, and a universal favorite both before 
and after her marriage. Many anecdotes of her heroic 
spirit and patriotism are related, which are given in 
another work. 

A beauty and leader in social circles, who had a 
picturesque life, was Sabina, the wife of "William Elliott. 
Their family residence — "Accabee," seven miles from 
Charleston — was noted during the war as a place of 
refuge. Its garden and lawn extended to Ashley 
River ; the grounds were shaded by magnificent live 
oaks, decorated with the floating silvery moss peculiar 
to the Southern lowlands. There, too, were the grace- 
ful fringe-tree, and the magnolia grandiflora, with other 
ornamental trees in front and on either side the mansion. 
The rear portico looked on an avenue of flowering locusts 
nearly a mile long. In the spacious hall, a circular 
flight of stairs led to Mrs. Elliott's study. This charm- 
ing country-seat was her residence in the winter and 



MRS, LEWIS MORRIS. 189 

early spring ; her summers were passed at Johnson's 
Fort, on John's Island. 

The eldest daughter of Mrs. Elliott became the wife 
of Daniel Huger ; the youngest, Ann, married Colonel 
Lewis Morris, eldest son of Lewis Morris, of Morrisania, 
one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 
Ann Elliott was born at Accabee. She was an ardent 
patriot, and was called by the British "the beautiful 
rebel." While the British had possession of Charleston, 
she wore a bonnet decorated with thirteen small plumes. 
Kosciusko was her admirer and correspondent. The 
second son of a noble English family became so enam- 
ored of her that he offered to join the American army ; 
but, though he besought friends to intercede, she refused 
him and his gifts with scorn. She saved the life of 
Colonel Morris when her house was visited by the Black 
Dragoons in search of him. 

Colonel and Mrs. Morris owned a cotton plantation 
on the Edisto River, four miles from Charleston, called 
the " The Round O." They had also a residence upon 
Sullivan's Island. Mrs. Morris was one of the belles 
distinguished at the levees of the first President, and at 
the " Republican Court." During the latter part of her 
life she lived at Morrisania. She died in New York, in 
1848, at the age of eighty-six. 

Jane Elliott married Colonel Washington, whom she 
first saw as a wounded prisoner, while engaged in the 
supervision of the hospital. She was the only child of 
Charles Elliott, of St. Paul's parish. Gifted with beauty 



190 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

and wealth, her frank and winning, yet dignified man- 
ners, and noble character, gained general admiration. 
Political friend and foe alike paid homage to her charms. 
Major Barry addressed a poem " To Jane Elliott, play- 
ing the guitar," commencing thus : — 

" Sweet harmonist! whom nature triply arms 
With virtue, beauty, music's powerful charms; 
Say, why combined, when each resistless power 
Might mark its conquest to the fleeting hour ?" 

Her marriage to Washington took place in 1782. 
Her residence was the family .seat, " Sandy Hill," in 
South Carolina. She died atsixty-six, in 1830. 

Anna Elliott was the daughter of the brave patriot 
Thomas Ferguson. She labored for her country, and 
was an angel of mercy to the poor and. afflicted. Her 
power of fascination, even over enemies, was remarkable. 
Many favors were granted at her request by British 
officers, while they held Charleston. . Tradition preserved 
her reply to a royal officer in her garden, when he asked 
the name of a flower : " The rebel flower," she answered. 
" Why so called ?" he asked. " Because it always flour- 
ishes most when trampled on." 

When Ferguson was banished, his daughter, whose 
nature was all impulse and feeling, came to Charleston, 
and obtained leave to accompany him. She went on 
board the ship, and strove to cheer and encourage her 
father ; but her feelings overcame her, and she fainted in 
the cabin. 



MRS. CALHOUN". 191 

The mother of John C. Calhoun was Martha Cald- 
well, whose parents emigrated to Virginia about 1719. 
They were descended from French Huguenots. Martha, 
with Patrick Calhoun, her husband, lived in Abbeville, 
South Carolina. Her sister, Elizabeth Caldwell, was a 
sufferer, with her mother, in the perils and persecutions 
of the Revolution. She married Robert Gillam, and 
lived to a great age, residing with her son, General 
James Gillam. She and other members of the Caldwell 
family were very prominent in society. John C. Cal- 
houn, in 1811, married Floride Calhoun, the daughter 
of John Ewing Calhoun, his cousin, a former United 
States senator from South Carolina. She brought him 
an accession of fortune. 



Esther Wake was the sister of Lady Tryon, the wife 
of Governor Tryon, of North Carolina. These two 
lovely and accomplished women exercised great influ- 
ence, not only in society, but in matters of State. The 
Governor's dinners were princely; the fascinations of 
the ladies irresistible ; and they helped to sustain the 
Executive authority. It was owing to their endeavors 
that a grant was obtained from the Assembly for build- 
ing a splendid palace ; and when the name of Tryon 
County was discarded, on account of the loyalism of 
those who bore it, the resolution to alter that of Wake 
was rejected by acclamation. Thus the county in which 
Raleigh is situated is consecrated in popular remem- 



192 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

brance by association with the memorj of beauty and 
virtue. 

Margaret Gaston, the mother of Judge Gaston, of 
North Carolina, was born in England, about 1755, and 
educated in a French convent. "While on a visit in 
North Carolina, she met Dr. Alexander Gaston, and 
was married to him at the age of twenty. He was bar- 
barously killed by the tories, in 1781. The widow had 
thenceforth but one object in life — the education of her 
son. Her piety and lovely character gave her the high- 
est appreciation in North Carolina. 

Mrs. Wilie Jones was the daughter of Colonel Mount- 
fort, and was conspicuous in society, being said to be 
" loved enthusiastically by every being who knew her." 
Born to ample fortune, she dispensed it with munifi- 
cence, and an elegant hospitality rarely seen in a new 
country. She was charitable, and had a " native nobili- 
ty of soul." The famous reply to Tarleton, when he 
sneeringly expressed a wish to see the rebel colonel, 
Washington, that he ought to have looked behind him 
at the battle of the Cowpens, has been attributed both to 
her and her sister, Mrs. Ashe. Mrs. Jones died in 1828. 
Mrs. Long (Miss McKinney) was the wife of Colonel 
Nicholas Long, commissary -general of the North Caro- 
lina forces. She possessed great energy and high mental 
endowments, and was greatly admired by the officers on 
both sides. 

Mrs. Ralph Izard, in her youth, was noted as a 
beauty in the gayest circles of New York society. She 



THE DE LANCEY FAMILY. 193 

was the daughter of Peter De Lancey, of Westchester, 
grand-daughter to Etienne De Lancej, a Huguenot no- 
bleman, who came to America in 1686. Many women 
of this distinguished family married eminent men. 
Susan, daughter of Colonel Stephen De Lancey, married 
Lieutenant-Colonel William Johnson, and afterwards 
Lieutenant-General Sir Hudson Lowe, and was the beau- 
tiful Lady Lowe praised by Bonaparte. Charlotte mar- 
ried Sir David Dundas ; another of the family, Sir Wil- 
liam Draper. In later years, one of them became the 
wife of J. Fennimore Cooper. Alice married Ralph 
Izard, of Charleston, a gentleman of accomplishments 
and liberal fortune, in 1767. He took his bride to 
Europe, and lived in Paris some time; his family re- 
maining abroad till peace was concluded. The old 
family residence, " The Elms," in South Carolina, was 
noted for their liberal hospitality. During the illness of 
her husband, Mrs. Izard managed his large estate and 
wrote his business letters, besides taking care of three 
families of children.* 

* A fair relative of General Washington had a very remarkable expe- 
rience. Born of wealthy parents, in Virginia, she was a widow at seven- 
teen, living with her father, who had lost fortune and emigrated to 
Florida. His home was a log cabin with two rooms, in the unbroken 
solitude of a primeval forest. Colonel Gadsden was a neighbor, and often 
spoke of his friend— the Prince Achille Murat — exiled, with a price set on 
his head, living like a hermit on his plantation. He was introduced at 
length, and became enamored of the beautiful Kate. After some months 
she was married to the son of the Neapolitan monarch, the consent of his 
exiled family having been obtained. Madame Murat took the manage- 
ment of the plantation. In the Florida war Murat had the friendship of 
an Indian chief, who was accustomed to come at night, build a fire in his 
9 



104 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

dwelling, and stay till morning. "Tou and your squaw safe," he would 
say, when they trembled at the terrible deeds they witnessed. Twenty- 
five years after the marriage Murat died ; but the princess continued to 
live on her Florida property, among her slaves ; attending to the hospitals 
during the war, and selling her jewels to feed the destitute. Afterwards 
she visited England and France, and was received by the Emperor and 
Eugenie ; returning to the gardens and fields of her beloved Southern 
home. 



BELLES OF THE WEST. 195 



IX. 



About 1779, Governor Caswell, of North Carolina, 
appointed Isaac; Shelby lieutenant-colonel (Anthony 
Bledsoe being colonel) of the military company of Sul- 
livan County. When Shelby returned from Kentucky, 
he became the affianced husband of Miss Susan Hart, a 
celebrated belle among the western settlements at that 
time. He took command, soon after, of the gallant vol- 
unteers who encountered the forces of Ferguson at 
King's Mountain, October 7, 1780, and, coming home 
crowned with the victor's wreath, found that his be- 
trothed had gone with her brother to Kentucky, leaving 
for him no invitation to follow her. A lively little 
damsel was Sarah, the daughter of Colonel Bledsoe, and 
as the young officer spent much time at her father's, she 
often rallied him on his dejection at this cruel desertion. 
Shelby would reply by expressing resentment at the 
treatment lie had received at the hands of the fair 
coquette, and protesting that he would not follow her, 
nor ask her of her father ; he would wait for little Sarah 
Bledsoe, a far prettier bird than the one that had flown 
away. The flippant maiden, then some thirteen years 
old, would laughingly return his banter by saying, " lie 
line] better wait, indeed! and see if he could win Miss 



190 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Bledsoe, who could not win Miss Hart!" The arch 
damsel was not wholly in jest ; for a youthful kinsman 
of the officer — David Shelby, a lad of seventeen or 
eighteen, who had fought by Isaac's side at King's 
Mountain — had already captivated her merry fancy. 
She remained true to this early love. The gallant 
colonel, who had threatened intidelity to his, did actu- 
ally, notwithstanding his protestations, go to Kentucky 
the following year, seek out Miss Susan Hart, and 
marry her. She made him a faithful and excellent 
wife. 

"Little Sarah" Bledsoe married David Shelby in 
1784, and had her home in the midst of the wilderness 
of Cumberland valley. Shelby established himself as 
the first merchant in Nashville, in 1790. He afterwards 
removed to Sumner County ; maintaining a high and 
honorable position, and giving valuable aid in building 
up the new State, in which his wife took her part. 
Her history, indeed, would embrace that of Tennessee. 
The names of Bledsoe, Shelby, Sevier, Robertson, Bu- 
chanan, Rains, and AVilson, are conspicuous in the 
country's annals; and amid the toil and heroic deeds 
that have made- them celebrated, no woman did her 
share more nobly than Mrs. Shelby. She lived to see 
the helpless colony increase to a goodly State ; residing, 
for the last twenty years of her life, with her son, Dr. 
Shelby, at his beautiful country-seat, " Faderland," near 
Nashville. Here she received and conversed with all 
interested in the early history of that region, and daily 



MRS. SEVIER. 197 

exhibited the beauty of an earnest " walk by faith." 
She died in 1852, aged eighty-six. 

The wife of the first Governor of Tennessee — the 
lady of " Plum Grove " — is worthy of a record. Cathe- 
rine Sherrill came with her father's family, in one of the 
pioneer parties, from the banks of Yadkin, North Caro- 
lina, across the rugged mountains, to seek new homes in 
the valley of the Watauga. Mr. Sherrill's residence was 
on the Nola Chucka, and known as "Daisy Fields." 
The station was attacked by the Indians in 1776 ; and 
among the flying women who were pursued by them was 
Miss Catherine Sherrill, whose family had removed for 
safety to the fort only the day before. The young lady 
was distinguished for courage and fleetness; it was said 
she could outrun and outleap any other woman ; " could 
walk more erect, and ride more gracefully and skilfully 
than any other in all the mountains round about." On 
this occasion she did "run her best." Her figure was 
tall and straight, and her appearance was such as to 
attract the special notice and pursuit of the savages. 
They intercepted the direct path to the fort, and she was 
compelled to make a circuit, with a view of scaling the 
walls or palisades. At her first attempt, some one with- 
in the defenses tried to assist her; but his foot slipped, 
or the object on which he stood gave way, and both fell 
to the ground on opposite sides of the inclosure. The 
Indians were close at hand, and determined to capture 
the maiden. She said : " Their bullets and arrows came 
like hail : it was now leap the wall or die, for I would 



19 i QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

not live a captive!" She sprang, and in a moment was 
over, and within the defenses, " by the side of one in 
uniform." It was Captain John Sevier, and this was 
her first sight of her future husband. Sevier was then 
married ; but his wife died in 1779, and in the follow- 
ing year he married Miss Sherrill. Their happy union 
lasted forty years. Sevier had selected an estate on the 
Watauga and Kola Chucka, and it received the name of 
"Plum Grove." Mrs. Sevier devoted herself to the 
duties of her station as mistress of a large household. 
Then the women did not disdain the employments of 
spinning, weaving, and making up most of the clothes 
worn by backwoods people; and all young girls were 
taught how to do such things. Mrs. Sevier's first work 
after marriage was to make the suits worn by her hus- 
band and his three sons at the battle of King's Moun- 
tain ; and she often said, " Had his ten children been 
sons, and old enough to serve in that expedition, I could 
have fitted them out." She became the mother of eight 
children. 

Colonel Sevier's life was one of incessant action and 
contest. He took a principal part in the Indian wars of 
East Tennessee, in the settlement of the country, and 
the organization of the State government. The Indian 
prisoners captured by him — at one time thirty in num- 
ber — were taken care of in his own house. Mrs. Sevier's 
influence over them was salutary. When tories threat- 
ened invasion, she would not leave her home to seek 
refuse in a block-house. "The wife of John Sevi r 



MKS. SEVIER. 199 

knows no fear," she was accustomed to say. The respect 
she manifested for her husband, and her own womanly 
dignity, had a favorable influence in promoting both his 
zeal and usefulness in the public service. She relieved 
him of all home cares. At one time the tories, infuri- 
ated against him, came to take him prisoner, determined 
to hang him ; and when Mrs. Sevier refused to inform 
them where he was, threatened to shoot her if she per- 
sisted in her silence. " Shoot ! shoot !" she exclaimed, 
in defiance ; " I am not afraid to die. But remember, 
while there is a Sevier upon the earth, my blood will 
not be unavenged !" She proved her ability to defend 
her property on more than one occasion. She was lib- 
eral and charitable to the poor, and always welcomed 
the sick and wounded to the care and nursing she gave 
the soldiers. Many of the Colonel's Indian expeditions 
were fitted out and supplied by her exertions with money 
and provisions. 

In 1784, occurred the scenes of the " State of Frank- 
land," a name given by the people of East Tennessee to 
a separate and independent government, organized in 
consequence of dissatisfaction with the condition of 
affairs under North Carolina. John Sevier was the first 
and last governor of the new State. The establishment 
of this little republic was regarded as no less than a 
declaration of revolt by the Governor of North Carolina, 
and those concerned in it were sternly commanded to 
return to their allegiance and duty. In the conflict of 
authorities, and the civil and personal contests that grew 



200 QUEENS OF AMERICAN" SOCIETY. 

out of this state of things in the revolted territory, the 
prudent and judicious conduct of Mrs. Sevier added to 
her husband's reputation and popularity. Their house 
was a place of general resort ; being known to be open 
freely to all friends of the rights of self-defense and inde- 
pendence. All who came for counsel or aid were deeply 
impressed by Mrs. Sevier's dignity and noble bearing. 
Measures of adjustment were at last adopted. This 
gave some offense, and Governor Sevier was entrapped 
and carried off by enemies into North Carolina. His 
wife, with a courage and daring few women could have 
shown, promptly raised up friends who rescued him. 
When, after those scenes were past, he was called, again 
and again, by the unanimous voice, to preside as gov- 
ernor over the State of Tennessee, and when he was 
elected to the Congress of the United States, then did 
her great heart swell with thankfulness, as she acknow- 
ledged that she had not endured peril, toil, and sacrifice 
in vain. During the twelve years that he was Governor 
of Tennessee, she made his home delightful ; a place of 
repose for the weary, an asylum for the afflicted ; known 
far and wide as " the hospitable mansion of the people's 
favorite." This admirable woman was self-educated. She 
said : " I picked up a good deal from observation of men 
and their acts, for that was a business with us in the 
early settlements." She was the instructor of her chil- 
dren. Her own time was always filled up with employ- 
ment of some kind ; she plied her knitting-work while 



MRS. SEVIER. 201 

in conversation, and always wore a bunch of bright keys 
at her side. 

After the death of Governor Sevier, in 1815, his 
widow removed to Overton County, in Middle Tennes- 
see, where most of her children lived. Her retired resi- 
dence was in a romantic and secluded spot — about ten 
or fifteen acres — on a high bench or spur of one of the 
mountains, a few miles from Obed River. A bold 
stream flung its waters down the mountain, and a dense 
wood shaded the spring near the house. Mrs. Sevier 
was known for years as the lady of " The Dale," seldom 
coming down from her eyrie; for the aged eagle had 
lost her mate, and she breathed the air nearest heaven, 
among the lofty oaks on the heights. Yet she was 
always cheerful, and, in her pointed and expressive lan- 
guage, would often relate anecdotes of the early settlers. 
With some pride she preserved an imported carpet, 
which had been presented to " the first governor's 
wife." It was, indeed, the first article of the kind ever 
laid on a "puncheon," or split log floor, west of the 
Alleghanies. It was usually spread out when company 
was expected ; and when they had gone, Susy and Jeff, 
the servants, dusted, folded, and boxed it up. Cleanli- 
ness and order reigned in the abode, and "godliness 
with contentment." The lady herself was always neat 
! and tidy ; she wore a white cap with black trimmings, 
and sat erect as a statue, with her feet on the hearth- 
rug, her work-stand beside her, and her Bible upon it, or 
on her lap. The governor's hat hung on the wall. She 



202 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

quitted this mountain hermitage only when her last son 
removed to Alabama ; dying in 1836, in Russelville, at 
the age of eighty-two. 

Ruth, the second daughter of Governor Sevier by his 
second marriage, was born at " Plum Grove," in that 
part of North Carolina now known as East Tennessee ; 
those settlements then forming the extreme borders of 
the country inhabited by civilized Americans. During 
the Indian wars in which Governor Sevier commanded 
the troops, and was acknowledged as " the friend and 
protector of the exposed settlements," Ruth evinced a 
strong interest in the history and character of those 
warlike tribes. She learned the Cherokee language, and 
won favor with the savages, who called her " Chucka's 
Rutha." Her form was of rare symmetry ; she had " a 
face and a figure for a painter," and never stood, sat, or 
walked, but with a native ease and grace that won 
admiration. A young captive, adopted by the Indians, 
and named Shawtunk, saw and loved her, and won her 
affections. They were married, and Ruth not only 
taught her husband the elements of education, but 
accompanied him to military posts as his secretary ; 
making out his reports, and performing the duties of 
which she could relieve him. In Natchez and other 
towns she became a brilliant belle in social circles; "the 
cynosure of neighboring eyes " for her beauty and un- 
limited influence. She was married a second time to a 
wealthy planter of Mississippi. Their residence was a 
beautiful and highly improved country-seat — " Burling- 



KENTUCKY LADIES. 203 

ton "— within view of Port Gibson, in Mississippi. Here 
were entertained a continual succession of visitors, with 
hospitality more splendid than had yet been seen in the 
western country. The stately abode was made charm- 
ing by the cheerful temper and genial kindness of its 
mistress. She was a model housewife, and had all 
things in perfect order, while showing attention to her 
numerous guests. Her death occurred in 1824, while 
she was on a visit to Maysville, Kentucky. 



One of the pioneers of Kentucky — the pride of her 
Stata, and celebrated as an ornament to the country — 
was A.nna, the widow of Hon. Henry Innis. Her early 
daye were passed in the wild woods, and yet in the 
society of such men as Clark, Wayne, Shelby, Scott, 
Boone, Henderson, Logan, Breckenridge, and all the 
great and heroic spirits of the West. She became the 
chronicler of her own times, interweaving traditions of 
the past with her narrative. With a cheerful disposi- 
tion and a powerful intellect, she was blessed in store 
and in the children given her. Her daughter was the 
first wife of Hon. J. J. Crittenden. She died at Cedar 
Hill, near Frankfort, in 1851. 

Another eminent daughter of Kentucky was the 
mother of General Leslie Combs. Her maiden name 
was Sarah "Richardson. She was of a Quaker family in 
Maryland, connected with the Thomases and Snowdens. 
When her son Leslie started as a volunteer to join the 



204 QUEENS OP AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Kentucky troops ordered to the northern frontier under 
General Winchester, in 1S12, she reminded him of his 
father's history and her own trials and dangers in the 
early settlements ; and bade him " die rather than fail 
in duty." Her residence was six miles from Boones- 
borough. 

Charlotte Reeves, the wife of General James Robert- 
son, was born in North Carolina, 1751. She crossed the 
mountains and shared the dangers and sufferings of the 
early settlers of Tennessee. Her husband was the 
special protector of the infant colony, and was obliged 
to make long and arduous journeys every winter to 
attend the Legislature in North Carolina. Mrs. Robert- 
son took charge of the family and maintained their 
place in society. Her adventures have been elsewhere 
recorded.* In 1805 Nashville is said to have had but 
one brick house ; but Mrs. Robertson witnessed its 
growth to a large town. 

The name of Simon Kenton, in the annals of the 
early pioneers, stands second only to that of the re- 
nowned woodsman, Daniel Boone. A county of Ken- 
tucky was named after him, and the incidents of his life 
were more thrilling than any romance. Elizabeth, his 
second wife, had a celebrity different from that of the 
other pioneer women of the West. She was the young- 
est daughter of Stephen Jarboe, a Frenchman, who 
removed to Kentucky about 1796. His daughter was 

* " Pioneer Women of the West." 



MRS. KENTON. 205 

then seventeen, and, possessing rare attractions of per- 
son and manners, had numerous admirers. She was tall 
and graceful, with blue eyes and dark hair. Kenton, 
the hero of Indian encounters, saw and loved and laid 
siege to her. They were married at Kenton's Station in 
1798. They removed to Cincinnati, and thence to the 
Mad River country. Their adventures, privations, and 
perils are chronicled elsewhere.* In their pleasant 
home they did as much as any one else in Kentucky to 
stamp the character of the State for liberal hospitality. 
Kenton was extensively known, and, possessing large 
land-claims in Kentucky, was reputed wealthy. His 
house was the resort of every shelterless emigrant, sol- 
dier, or land-hunter ; even the wandering Indian stopped 
there for the supply of his wants. The continual influx 
of visitors, and the provisions necessary to supply their 
wants and those of a large family, entailed privations 
which Mrs. Kenton bore with cheerfulness for ten years. 
In 1810 General Kenton removed to Urbana, where he 
lived eight years. The dishonesty of agents and various 
misfortunes involved him in trouble and lawsuits. He 
was reduced from opulence to poverty, and was hunted 
like a felon, arrested and imprisoned. These wrongs and 
sufferings embittered the life of Mrs. Kenton. In 1818, 
they took up their residence on some wild land in what 
is now Logan County, and lived simply, remote from 
those who had thronged around them in days of pros- 

* "Pioneer Women of the West." 



206 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

perity. General Kenton died in 1S36. His wife re- 
moved to Indiana, and died at the house of her son-in- 
law in 1842. 

Mrs. Talbot, of Michigan, the daughter of Commo- 
dore Truxton, was a celebrated beauty, and in advanced 
years retained the dignified manners of the old time. 
She lived on her farm near Pontiac, in an ancient log- 
house embowered in eglantine ; within, however, were 
evidences of refined taste, which invested with dignity 
the homeliest materials. 

Louisa St. Clair was the daughter of the Governor of 
the Northwest Territory. He removed in 1790 from his 
plantation, " Pott's Grove," in Pennsylvania, to Mariet- 
ta, Ohio. Louisa was distinguished among the ladies of 
that period for grace and beauty ; and possessed indom- 
itable energy and a strong intellect in a strong frame. 
She was a splendid equestrian — fearless, blooming, and 
graceful — and managed the most spirited horse with 
perfect ease, dashing at full gallop through the open 
woodlands of the West, and leaping over the logs in her 
way. In skating she was equally expert ; her speed and 
dexterity were unrivaled ; and her elegant person and 
neat dress were shown in rapid gyrations over the broad 
frozen surface of the Muskingum, close to the garrison. 
In short, she was the ideal of a soldier's daughter, and a 
model huntress, like Diana, loading and firing with the 
accuracy of a backwoodsman. With all these masculine 
aecomplk-hments, and that of being a tireless walker, 
her refined manners rendered her the ornament of draw- 



BELLES OF THE WEST. 207 

mg-room circles. Her beauty was the more bewitching 
from her high intellectual culture ; for she had received 
the best education Philadelphia could afford. The ath- 
etic exercise of the country strengthened both her men- 
tal and physical powers, and her rare spirit was suited to 
pioneer times and manners. After the Indian war, she 
returned to her early home in the romantic glens of 
Ligonier valley. The French emigrants who came from 
Paris to Marietta, and were entertained at the Govern- 
or's, wondered, as they descended the Ohio in " Kentucky 
arks " or fiat-boats, at the broad rivers and vast forests 
of the Yv r est ; and hardly less at the fearless spirit of the 
daughters of the land. 

Sarah Sibley was Miss Sproat, the daughter of a 
Revolutionary officer. She v. as born at Providence, 
Rhode Island, in 1TS2, and was married at twenty to 
Solomon Sibley, a distinguished lawyer from Massachu- 
setts, who finally fixed his home in Detroit. The fort 
there was garrisoned, and had Southern officers ; the 
inhabitants of the town were mostly French ; some 
descended of noble families, and priding themselves on 
superior refinement ; these formed a most agreeable 
society. The families of British merchants living on 
the opposite side of the river often joined in their gaye- 
ties. For six months in the year they were shut off 
from intercourse with the outer world by the snows and 
want of facilities for travel ; depending on their own 
limited circle for amusement. Mrs. Sibley went in 
August, 1804, to visit her parents, in Marietta, Ohio ; 



208 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

encamping in the woods on her journey, and keeping 
the wolves off by fires at night. Her horse died on the 
way, and many inconveniences had to be endured before 
she reached her destination. 

Detroit was destroyed by fire in June, 1805 ; and 
Mr. Sibley was obliged to fit up another dwelling, which 
he and his family occupied thirty years. Mrs. Sibley 
bore a heroic part in the scenes of the war of 1812, and, 
some years after the peace, again visited her relatives in 
Ohio. During the whole of her married life she was the 
centre of an admiring circle. Her height was command- 
ing, and her face and form were beautiful ; she possessed 
rare intellectual powers, well trained, and most pleasing 
manners. With a truly noble character, rich in femi- 
nine graces, she was the object of profound and marked 
respect. Her husband was for many years Judge of the 
Supreme Court of the Territory of Michigan. He lived 
not only to be the last relic of the ancient Bar of Michi- 
gan proper — dating back to 1798 — but the last remain- 
ing link, in that State, of the profession in the present 
day to that of the Northwest Territory. Judge Sibley 
was associated with General Cass in negotiating a treaty 
with the Indians by which the Indian title to Michigan 
was extinguished. He was successively a delegate from 
the Territory to Congress, District Attorney of the Uni- 
ted States, and Judge of the Supreme Court of the State 
of Michigan. 

The wife of Hon. John Walworth, one of the earliest 
settlers of Lake County, Ohio, shared the toils and pri- 



BELLES OF THE WEST. 209 

vations of the pioneers, and shone conspicuous in hospi- 
tality, benevolence, and social influence. To her win- 
ning and attractive manners, her sprightliness and 
vivacity, must be attributed the resort to her house of 
the polished and highly respectable in the community. 
Twice she traveled on horseback to the farthest part of 
Connecticut and back, to visit friends. She was a belle 
at the first ball given at Cleveland, July 4, 1801, in 
Major Carter's log cabin. There were a dozen ladies 
and fifteen or twenty gentlemen ; and the dancers kept 
time on the puncheon floor to Major Jones's violin, 
refreshed occasionally by sling made with whisky and 
maple-sugar. The dances were lively and hilarious ; the 
'• scamperdown double-shuffle," " western swing," " half 
moon," &c, &c. 

Rebecca Heald was the daughter of Colonel Wells, 
of Kentucky, and the wife of the commander of Fort 
Dearborn, Chicago — a place associated with the scenes 
of the massacre on the 15th August, 1812. JSTear the 
junction of Chicago River with Lake Michigan, directly 
opposite the fort, from which it was separated by the 
river and a few rods of sloping green turf, stood the 
dwelling and trading establishment of Mr. John Kinzie. 
On the 7th April, 1812, while he was playing the violin 
and his children were dancing, his wife having gone up 
the river to see a sick neighbor, another neighbor rushed 
in, screaming, " The Indians ! They are at Lee's place, 
killing and scalping !" The family hurried into two old 
pirogues, moored near, and paddled across the river to 



210 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

the fort. Early in August, Captain Heald received 
orders to evacuate the fort, and started to obey ; Mr. 
Kinzie volunteering to accompany the troops, and leav- 
ing His family in the care of friendly Indians, who 
promised to convey them in a boat round the head of 
Lake Michigan to a point on St. Joseph's Piver. The 
boat had scarcely reached the mouth of the river, when 
a second message from the chief of St. Joseph's band 
came to detain them. This chief had already warned 
Kinzie that mischief was intended by the Pottowatta- 
niies, who had promised to escort the detachment. Mrs. 
Kinzie was a woman of uncommon strength and pres- 
ence of mind, with rare energy; but her heart died 
within her as she folded her arms around her infant 
children, and saw her husband and eldest son marching 
to almost certain destruction. Mrs. Heald was placed 
in the boat with Mrs. Kinzie and her children, and 
covered with a buffalo robe, silence being enjoined. 
The boat returned to Kinzie's house, and the family 
were conveyed from the Pottowattamie encampment, 
closely guarded by their Indian friends. The fort was 
then fired. After new dangers and escapes, the family 
of Kinzie was carried to St. Joseph's, and afterwards to 
Detroit. 

Mrs. Helm was the step-daughter of Mr. Kinzie; 
her mother, the widow of Colonel McKillip, having 
married him in 1S03, and removed with him to Chicago, 
then a mere trading-post among the Pottowattamies. 
She married Lieutenant Helm. She was a witness to 



MRS. KINZIE. 211 

the terrible attack and massacre. Her life was saved by 
an old Indian, who dragged her into the lake, and when 
the firing subsided led her up the sand-banks into a wig- 
wam.* 

Mrs. Kinzie was the daughter-in-law of John Kinzie, 
the earliest resident of Chicago, whose trading establish- 
ment, as mentioned, stood near the junction of the river 
with the lake. At that time the peninsula of Michigan 
was a wilderness peopled with savages, with only one or 
two families of settlers besides the garrison. Many 
members of the Kinzie family were associated with the 
early history of this region. 

Mrs. Kinzie took several excursions on horseback 
through the primeval forests of Illinois, before the 
pioneer settlers had yet penetrated its northern portion. 
She was accustomed, on those journeys, to camp out at 
night, without lodging or roof, save the canopy of 
heaven. Her home was fixed in Chicago, where she 
was looked up to with high respect as a social leader 
and a woman of superior endowments. 



The residents of Ann Arbor, Michigan, will remem- 
ber as a remarkable woman Mrs. Elizabeth AlleUj who 
passed her later days in that village. She was Miss 
Tate, born among the mountains of Virginia, and was so 
great a belle, she was said to have had sixteen offers be- 

* For a full account, see "Pioneer Women of the West." 



212 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

fore she was eighteen. One overforward suitor, riding 
home among the mountains from the burial of his wife, 
overtook Miss Tate's horse, and, riding alongside, ven- 
tured to express a wish that she would consent to fill the 
place of the dear departed. The young lady blushed 
with indignation, and sternly forbade him to name the 
subject again " under a year." When the year had ex- 
pired he proposed, and was rejected. She had a proud 
and happy bridal in the Old Dominion, and went cheer- 
fully into the backwoods of the West with her husband, 
always remembering her brilliant girlhood, and often 
talking of it. Her gentle dignity and force of character 
gave her unusual influence, and her habits w T ere those 
of a matron of the olden time. 

Miss Frances Trask figured as a belle of the early 
days of Washtenaw County, Michigan, residing in Dix- 
boro'. She had brilliant natural gifts, well cultivated. 
Her accomplishments were unusual, and gave her ac- 
knowledged superiority, which was maintained by her 
excellent qualities of character. She had great force, 
energy, and decision ; a piquant wit, and a happy 
audacity that charmed even while she startled the pru- 
dence of her friends. Greatly admired in society, she 
was devotedly charitable, and abundant in ministrations 
to. the sick. Like other maidens in that wild region, 
she excelled in athletic exercises; was accustomed to 
fire at a mark, and could cut otf a chicken's head at an 
incredible number of rods ; could ride with any racer, and 
was the sprightly leader at picnics and pleasure parties. 



MRS. JAMES K. POLK, 213 



X. 



Mrs. Polk was born in Tennessee, and was the 
daughter of Captain Joel Childress. She was a pupil 
at a Moravian Institute, and pursued her studies for two 
years under the care of instructors among this singular 
people. Perhaps the quiet, gentle, benevolent traits of 
character with which she became familiar in such asso- 
ciation contributed to mould her own, or at least to 
encourage the growth of those womanly and Christian 
virtues for which in after life she was distinguished, and 
which adorned the eminent position she occupied. 

Soon after her education was completed, Miss Chil- 
dress left North Carolina, her father having taken up 
his residence in Murfreesborough, Tennessee. Here, in 
the bloom of nineteen, she was married to Mr. James 
K. Polk, who had been lately elected to the Tennessee 
Legislature. In 1825 he was elected a member of Con- 
gress. During fourteen sessions he continued a National 
representative, spending the winters at Washington ; 
and in all but one Mrs. Polk was with him. Being 
often appointed the chairman of important committees, 
Mr. Polk's house was frequented by persons of political 
distinction ; while the estimable qualities of his wife 
drew around her the best in the social circles of the 



214 QUEENS OP AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

metropolis. Among their visitors were many illustrious 
persons, whose services to their country have become 
historical, besides those entitled to distinction on the 
score of intellectual and social accomplishments. All 
were charmed with Mrs. Polk ; and her womanly grace 
and dignity, her mild and amiable temper, her reserved 
yet winning and fascinating manners, crowned with 
humble and fervent piety, impressed all who were 
acquainted with her, and exercised a widely beneficial 
influence. She was always consistent in her walk, and 
governed her life by religions precepts rather than by 
regard to the opinion of the world. She was eminently 
charitable, and it is said that no applicant worthy of 
assistance, or engaged in any work of true benevolence, 
ever failed to receive aid at her hands. To many 
objects deserving support, her donations were munifi- 
cent. These good deeds were always performed in a 
manner so simple and unostentatious that others either 
did not discover, or knew little of them. They were not 
for the voice of public praise. 

Some complimentary verses on her leaving "Wash- 
ington were addressed to Mrs. Polk, in February, 1839, 
by the eminent jurist, Hon. Joseph D. Story, and showed 
his friendly regard. In that year Mr. Polk was called 
to fill the office of Governor of Tennessee. Mrs. Polk's 
devotion to his interests at all times, her spirit of concili- 
ation and kindness, and the attractive graces of her de- 
portment, had an important influence, not only on 
friends, but on members of the Legislature opposed to 



MBS. JAMES K. POLK. 215 

the governor. Although, never desirous' of the distinc- 
tion of a female politician, she had taken great pains to 
make herself well acquainted with public affairs. One 
who knew her intimately, said there were few days in 
the year in which she did not spend a certain time read- 
ing the leading journals containing the grave produc- 
tions of superior minds. The matter which only healthy, 
strong, and reflective minds could comprehend or digest, 
was always preferred by her to the light, frivolous litera- 
ture of the day. Yet she rarely conversed on the sub- 
ject of politics, and never was vehement in argument, 
or heated in advocating the side her judgment approved. 
When James K. Polk was inaugurated President of 
the United States, in March, 1845, the home of his 
family was in the city of Washington. Mrs. Polk 
remained with him during the four years of his adminis- 
tration, with the exception of the summer of 1847, which 
she passed among friends in Tennessee. In this eminent 
station, where so much lies in the power of a true-heart- 
ed woman, she won from all parties not only approval, 
but unqualified admiration. Wide as were the differ- 
ences of opinion relative to the President, visitors, 
friends, opponents, were unanimous in their praises of 
the grace and dignity with which Mrs. Polk presided 
over her department. A lady's letter to South Carolina 
says : " She is one of our sex of whom I feel justly 
proud, on account of her efficient good sense, admirable 
tact, experienced judgment, quiet decision, and irre- 
proachable conduct, during her husband's whole admin- 



216 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

istration ; and I am sure that, without distinction of 
party, she has secured the unqualified approbation and 
good-will of every person who has visited her at the 
White House." — " She possesses, in a remarkable degree, 
kindness of feeling, equanimity of temper, good-humor, 
and conversational power, with affability of manner, 
and firm though unobtrusive determination of purpose. 
She is peculiarly fitted by nature, education, and exten- 
sive intercourse with the best society, to adorn her ele- 
vated station. In various positions she has always been 
self-possessed and equal to the occasion ; being easy 
without familiarity, and dignified without restraint." 

Mrs. Polk partook of the prejudices of many mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church, and would not permit 
dancing or cards in the house of which she was the 
mistress. At church a stranger would not be struck 
with any difference in her dress from others in the con- 
gregation ; but, the same writer remarks, " at her grand 
levees, in full dress, she is a most imposing, magnificent- 
looking woman, and receives her numerous gue 
grace, eloquence, and charming affability." — "£ 
arms envy by her unaffected good sense and gocvi xeel- 
ing, and fully appreciates the folly of upstart assump- 
tions of aristocratic superiority." — " I have every reason 
to believe that when her husband resigns his office, she 
will carry with her into retirement the unqualified 
respect and esteem of the whole American people." 

Many testify to Mrs. Polk's faculty of making her- 
self popular with all classes; it might emphatically be 



MRS. JAMES K. POLK. 217 

bald of her: "None named her but to praise." Besides 
her attractive personal appearance, the kindly warmth 
of her manner bespoke heartfelt sympathy. A visitor at 
the White House, at a levee given on ]STew Tear's day, 
thus describes the scene and Mrs. Polk: "The foreign 
courts were well represented in the imposing splendor of % 
official costumes and uniforms shining with gold. The 
audience-room was nearly filled. Many ladies, beauti- 
fully attired, stood near the wife of the President ; but 
among them all I should have selected her as fitly rep- 
resenting, in person and manner, the dignity and grace 
of the American female character. Modest, yet com- 
manding in appearance, I felt she was worthy of all the 
admiration which has been lavished on her. She was 
richly and becomingly dressed, and easy and affable in 
deportment ; looking, indeed, worthy of the high station 
which Providence had assigned her." 

Mrs. Maury, in her "Englishwoman in America," 
mentions Mrs. Polk among the three ladies who have ^ 
shared in the honors of the presidency whom she has 
seen. " Truly," she says, " among the queens whom I 
have seen, not one could compare with the regal grace 
of Mrs. Madison, the feminine, distinguished personnel 
of Mrs. Polk, and the intelligent and ladylike demeanor 
of Mrs. Adams. The first of these ladies is still, at the 
age of eighty- six, eminently beautiful, with a complexion 
as fresh and fair, and a skin as smooth, as that of an 
English girl. Mrs. Polk is a very handsome woman. 

Her hair is black, and her dark eyes and complexion 
10 



218 QUEENS OF AMEEICAN SOCIETY. 

give her a touch of the Spanish donna. These American 
ladies are highly cultivated, and perfectly accomplished 
and practiced in the most delicate and refined usages of 
distinguished society. It is not possible to observe the 
affectionate and deferential manner of Mrs. Polk towards 
the august lady who is now the ' mother of the republic,' 
without feeling for each the warmest admiration. Mrs. 
Polk is very well read, and has much talent for conver- 
sation ; she is highly popular ; her reception of all parties 
is that of a kind hostess and an accomplished gentle- 
woman. She has excellent taste in dress, and both in 
the morning and the evening preserves the subdued 
though elegant costume which characterizes the lady. 
She is ready at reply, and preserves her position admira- 
bly. At a levee a gentleman remarked : ' Madam, you 
have a very genteel assemblage to-night.' — ' Sir,' replied 
Mrs. Polk, with perfect good -humor, but very signifi- 
cantly, ' I have never seen it otherwise.' 

" One morning I found her reading. ' I have many 
books presented to me by the writers,' said she, ' and I 
try to read them all ; at present that is not possible ; but 
this evening the author of this book dines with the 
President, and I could not be so unkind as to appear 
wholly ignorant and unmindful of his gift.' I wore a 
brooch in which was contained the hair of my husband 
and children, very tastefully displayed. Mrs. Polk car- 
ried it to the window, read the names of the 'eleven,' 
compared their hair, and asked many questions about 



MRS. JAMES K. POLK. 219 

them. Saving her gracious majesty, I could have put 
my arms around her neck and kissed her." 

An eloquent poem was addressed to Mrs. Polk by 
the accomplished novelist, Mrs. Ann S. Stephens, from 
which we give a brief extract : — 

" There, standing in our nation's home, 

My memory ever pictures thee 
As some bright dame of ancient Rome, 

Modest, yet all a queen should be. 
I love to keep thee in my mind, 

Thus mated with the pure of old, 
When love, with lofty deeds combined, 

Made women great and warriors bold. 

" When first I saw thee standing there, 

And felt the pressure of thy hand, 
I scarcely thought if thou wert fair, 

Or of the highest in the land ; 
I knew thee gentle — pure as great, 

All that was lovely, meek, and good ; 
And so I half forget thy state 

In love of thy bright womanhood." 

Some complaint being made about the discontinu- 
ance of dancing at the White House, Mrs. Polk replied 
to the dissatisfied ladies, " Why, I would not dance in 
the Presidents house, would you?" intimating that a 
more private drawing-room was a more suitable place. 

With her strict religious views, and regular attend- 
ance at church, Mrs. Polk was free from austerity or 
bigotry, and always exercised the largest charity in her 
judgment of others. Her life was directed by a genuine 
Christian faith, out of which grew a warm interest in 
the welfare of those she knew ; a simple spirit of charity, 



220 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

and a deep, abiding solicitude for the advancement of 
the holy cause to which her whole being had been early- 
consecrated. Influenced thus by the purest and highest 
motives, her conduct was at all times exemplary, and it 
is no wonder she was universally regarded as " a perfect 
woman nobly planned," whose name was always asso- 
ciated with what is lovely, pure, and of good report — 
with what is gracious and holy. 

Towards the expiration of the term of Mr. Polk's 
administration, when the President elect, General Tay- 
lor, came to Washington, he was invited, with Yice- 
President Fillmore, to dine at the White House, and all 
the courtesies usually extended to the new chief magis- 
trate were shown by Mr. Polk, notwithstanding the 
confusion attending his breaking up housekeeping and 
removal, and the close of a session of Congress. Mr. 
and Mrs. Polk left the White House the evening before 
the new President entered on his office. On the 
Wednesday evening previous, the house had been thrown 
open and brilliantly lighted up for the largest levee of 
the season ; General Taylor and his family and suite — a 
company of forty persons, belonging to both political 
parties — having been entertained at dinner. 

The life of Mrs. Polk was unvisited by any deep sor- 
row till she was bereaved of the husband to whom she 
had been so affectionately devoted. He had purchased, 
for a permanent residence, an elegant mansion, sur- 
rounded by extensive grounds, in the city of Nashville, 
Tennessee. This has ever since been the home of his 



MRS. JAMES K. POLK. 221 

widow. Under a temple in the grounds, within view 
from the side windows, is the tomb of President Polk — 
a plain monument, with an inscription recording the 
principal events of his history and the posts of distinc- 
tion in which he served his country. This place is 
visited by many citizens and travelers, the grounds 
being kept open to the public. A room in the house, 
occupied by the President as a study, has been kept 
sacredly in the same condition in which he left it ; his 
papers laid about, his pen as if just fallen from his hand, 
and every thing as if in use by the occupant. The deep 
sorrow of Mrs. Polk shrouded the house as well as her 
heart in mourning; but Time, the great softener of 
grief, has alleviated the first anguish of her loss, and the 
faith of a fervent Christian looks to re-union beyond the 
grave. When a large number of members of the Gen- 
eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church called upon 
her, as a mark of respect for one who had shared the 
honors of the nation's chief magistrate, and for the con- 
sistent Christian example she had maintained, both in 
her high position and in her secluded retirement, she 
invited to dinner many of those who called, and won 
their unfeigned admiration by her refined and graceful 
deportment, and the deep religious spirit evinced in her 
conversation. It was known that while presiding at the 
White House she was always ready to receive ministers 
of the gospel, when obliged to excuse herself from other 
visitors. 

Kumors prevailed at the time that Mrs. Polk intended 



222 • QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

to reside, at least for a time, in Washington, and that she 
had visited England after her husband's death ; but they 
were without foundation. Nashville is her chosen home, 
and, having no children, she sought solace in the society 
of her niece and adopted daughter. 

The Legislature of Tennessee was in the habit of 
calling in a body on Mrs. Polk, on the first of January in 
every year. This was the highest compliment ever paid 
by the State authorities to any lady. On one occasion, 
they expressed a wish to pay their respects on the 22d 
of February, in honor of the anniversary of Washington's 
birthday. Mrs. Polk received and entertained them 
with great cordiality. The people of Tennessee always 
manifested gratification at this mark of respect paid by 
their representatives to the distinguished wife of one of 
Tennessee's greatest statesmen. 

On another occasion, various military companies, 
escorted by the Union Guards, came to pay their respects, 
approaching the grounds by the main entrance, and 
filiug through them in front of the house. Such genuine 
manifestations of esteem and sympathy could not but be 
pleasing to Mrs. Polk. But she was always careful not 
to show any marked preference at such times for the 
Democratic party, of which her husband had been so 
many years the pride and support. She had so earnestly 
shared his sentiments, that it was natural she should 
ever feel a lively interest in the success of the Democracy 
and a wish for the ascendency of its principles: yet, 
holding inviolate her lady-like reserve and her sense~of 



MRS. HUNTINGTON. 223 

•what was due to her position, she could not distinguish 
between parties in receiving public marks of respect. 



The wife of Judge Huntington, of Indiana, was 
Susan, the daughter of Dr. Christopher A. Eudd, a 
physician of eminence in Springfield, Kentucky. He 
was of the Carroll family of Maryland, and his ancestors 
came with Lord Baltimore. He married Anna Benoist 
Palmer, descended from an old Huguenot family settled 
in Charleston, South Carolina. 

Susan was born in Springfield, in 1821. She was 
placed early in a Catholic convent for her education, 
and acquired many brilliant accomplishments. She 
excelled in music, was a good linguist, and possessed 
such a knowledge of general literature as to develop 
and cultivate a rare taste. When only sixteen she was 
married to Clark Fitzhugh, of Louisville, Kentucky, a 
nephew of General George Rogers Clark, of Kentucky. 
They resided in Louisville till her husband's death. 
Mrs. Fitzhugh was surrounded by a circle of admiring 
friends, and was esteemed one of the brightest ornaments 
of Western society. Pure in heart, affectionate and 
kind in her nature, and disposed to exercise every office 
of sincere friendship and tender charity, accomplished in 
her manners, and brilliant in mental attainments, as 
well as beautiful in person, she soon became the favorite 
of her circle. Only a little more than a year, how- 
ever, did thi3 union last. One daughter was left to the 



224 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

widow ; this daughter became the wife of Allan Polk, 
of Arkansas, a nephew of President Polk. 

In 1842, Mrs. Fitzhugh went to "Washington with 
her cousin, Mrs. Florida White. Here she became a 
courted belle in the fashionable world. Her beauty was 
in its blooming perfection. Her form was tall and 
exquisitely proportioned. She possessed a commanding 
dignity of mien, with faultless grace in every movement. 
Her complexion was fair ; her eyes were dark blue, with 
long brown lashes ; and her dark brown hair fell in 
heavy waves almost to her feet. Her features had the 
regularity of a Greek outline, and their classic beauty 
was rendered more charming by the refined intelligence 
that illumined her whole countenance. Her voice was 
musical, and she had fascinating eloquence in conversa- 
tion. The elegance of high -breeding in her was harmo- 
nious with her feminine gentleness, and her playful 
humor gave her still more powerful attraction. Among 
her gentlemen admirers were the most distinguished 
men in the Capital. It was during this visit that she 
met the Hon. E. M. Huntington, then Commissioner of 
the General Land Office at Washington. She was mar- 
ried to him in November of the same year. President 
Tyler, who was a special friend of Mr. Huntington, 
offered him the position of Judge of the United States 
Court in Indiana. lie fixed his home at Terra Haute ; 
but he and his wife traveled extensively, and wherever 
they went, Mrs. Huntington was the centre and star of 
attraction. The nidge was a man of learning and lite- 



MRS. HUNTINGTON. 225 

rary accomplishments, and served on the bench, associated 
with the Hon. John McLean, of Ohio, long enough to 
render his name celebrated. He died at St. Paul, Min- 
nesota, in 1862. 

The health of Mrs. Huntington had failed in 1853, 
when she accompanied her husband to Louisiana, and 
afterwards to San Antonio, Texas. Here they remained 
during the winter. The disease, however, gained upon 
her, notwithstanding the change of climate and the 
attention of her physicians. In December, 1854, she 
faded like a flower, dying at the early age of thirty-two. 
She was the mother of five children. 

This lovely woman had a ruling influence in social 
circles, but one more valuable in the hearts of those 
nearest to her. Her life was an exemplification of the 
sweetest womanly virtues, elevated by unaffected piety. 
Beloved in her home and by numerous friends, her Chris- 
tian faith allied her to higher natures in a purer world. 

Ellen Adair, the daughter of Governor Adair, of 
Kentucky, who married Colonel White, of Florida, was 
usually called " Mrs. Florida White," in allusion to the 
State represented in Congress by her husband. She 
w T as a fashionable belle in Washington for several years, 
and was celebrated for her magnificent person and her 
accomplishments throughout the Gulf States. She spent 
some time in Europe. In her widowhood, while on a 
visit in New Orleans, she met Mr. Beattie, a native of 
Ireland, whom she accepted for her second husband. 
Her residence afterwards was in Florida. 

10* 



226 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Her sister, Mrs. Benjamin F. Pleasants, was much 
admired in Washington society, and took an interest in 
public affairs. These were two of the seven daughters 
of Governor Adair, all of whom were women of mark 
for beauty and talents. 



Pamela Williams was born in Williamston, Massa- 
chusetts, about 1785. At the age of eighteen she mar- 
ried General Jacob Brown, whom she met at the house 
of her brother, Judge Williams, of Utica, New York, 
and went with him to reside at Brownsville, in Jefferson 
County. She was his constant companion in Washing- 
ton, where her associations were with many elevated in 
station and brilliant ornaments of social life. The Madi- 
sons, Hamiltons, Schuylers, Calhouns, <fec, were among 
her most intimate friends. Her rare qualities of mind 
and heart, her unassuming dignity, graceful ease, and 
finished culture, were highly appreciated in the best 
circles of the national capital. Her house was the 
centre of a polished coterie, where were welcomed not 
only the statesman and the scholar, the gifted and dis- 
tinguished, but the less fortunate, who stood more in 
need of sympathy and encouragement. 

When the General's death left his widow in sorrow, 
she received from General La Fayette a tender letter of 
condolence : — 

" Paki8, March 80, 1828. 
*' Mi Dear Madam : 

" Amidst the heavy blows I have to bear this side of the At- 
lantic, by the loss of a yonng and beloved grand-daughter, and of 



MRS. J. F. FISHER. 227 

an old friend and relation, the melancholy account from "Washing- 
ton has filled my heart with inexpressible grief. Previous infor- 
mation had given me the hope of improvement in the state of the 
excellent General's health, and has rendered the lamentable event 
still more painful to me. 

" You know, dear madam, the intimate and most confidential 
friendship that has been formed between us. Our personal ac- 
quaintance was recent, although our characters had long been 
known to each other ; but no old intimacy could be more affec- ' 
tionate, no mutual reliance better establisbed. 

" While I deeply regret him on my account, be assured, my dear 
madam, that I most affectionately sympathize in your affliction, 
and the feelings of your family. My son and M. L. Vasseur beg to 
be remembered ; and I am, most cordially, 

" Your affectionate and mourning friend, 

" La Fayette." 



The wife of Henry Clay of Kentucky was the 
daughter of Thomas Hart of Lexington, one of the lead- 
ing men of the State. 



Mrs. Joshua Francis Fisher, the daughter of Henry 
Micldleton, at one time United States minister to Rus- 
sia, is noted at the present day in Philadelphia for 
musical accomplishments, social influence, and liberal 
hospitality. She was a native of South Carolina. Sev- 
eral persons of mark have belonged to the Middleton 
family, which is one of the oldest in the State. 



228 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

In later years, Miss Sallie Ward was extensively 
known as a fashionable belle in the West. The high 
position of her family, her extraordinary personal beauty 
and fascinations, and her connection with noted persons, 
placed her, even in youth, among the conspicuously 
observed. Her ancestors came of one of the most re- 
spectable of the ancient Pluguenot families who fled 
from French persecution, bringing to the Southern 
States the best blood infused into the veins of the young 
nation. Her grandfather, Major Mattheus Flournoy, 
served with distinction in the war of the Revolution. 
He purchased a country-seat in Scott County, Kentucky, 
where the subject of this sketch was born. Her father, 
Hon. Robert J. Ward, possessed the intellectual qualities 
that make men great, with those moral ones which 
secure lasting friendship. At twenty-eight he was elect- 
ed Speaker of the Kentucky Assembly,, his ability and 
eloquence giving promise of a splendid public career. 
So great became his popularity that he might have ob- 
tained any office in the people's gift, had he remained in 
public life; in comparative retirement, his generous 
character and virtues gave him influence during life, 
and endeared his memory to numerous friends. 

Mrs. Ward was one of the most remarkable women 
of the day, prominent for intellectual gifts and personal 
loveliness. No one in Kentucky has entertained so 
much company, or with such " success" in charming her 
guests and rendering her home famous as the centre of 



MRS. SALLIE WARD HUNT. 229 

social enjoyment. She still holds an admired place in 
society. 

The daughter of such parents might be expected to 
have every advantage of education and moral training ; 
and thus it happened that the young and lovely girl, 
reared in the lap of luxury, idolized by her family, en- 
joying every pleasure wealth could bestow, and received 
in society with the most flattering homage, escaped 
being spoiled by adulation, and grew up as amiable and 
as well developed in mind as if stern discipline and 
severe trial had moulded her character in early years. 
She had rare natural gifts; a remarkable memory and 
quick perceptions enabled her to acquire foreign lan- 
guages with readiness, and to retain what she had 
learned ; and especially for music she possessed talent 
which the most careful and scientific cultivation im- 
proved into surpassing skill. 

Every class in Louisville, Kentucky, where she lived, 
seemed to take pride in the loveliness of this young girl. 
It was a curious kind of popularity, more like that of a 
French princess in her hereditary province, in whom 
her people claimed a sort of ownership, than the simple 
admiration of republicans for a fair being highly favored 
of fortune. If a child had a pet kitten or a bird of re- 
markable beauty, it was fondly named " Sallie "Ward." 
I fa farmer rejoiced in the possession of a young lamb or 
heifer which he wanted to praise to the utmost degree 
.of comparison, he would recommend it as " a perfect 
* Sallie Ward.' " She was the ideal of all that was pure. 



230 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

beautiful, and sacred to young people who saw her oniy 
at a distance in her father's carriage, or walking, attend- 
ed, or at church. Once, when a mother was teaching 
her bright little girl, six years of age, to say her prayers, 
and to meditate on the grandeur and power of the Al- 
mighty Creator, she told her how God made the glorious 
sun, the stars, and all the beautiful flowers,— the child 
interrupted her with, "And, mamma, He made Sallie 
Ward !" 

" The Louisville Legion " was a source of great pride 
to the city. It is now identified with the memory of 
gallant services in the war with Mexico. The call upon 
the Governor of Kentucky for a regiment of infantry for 
service was responded to by the entire body of the 
"Legion," which was mustered into service in May, 
1846, and embarked at Portland for New Orleans. The 
company of the " Louisville Guards " was quartered on 
board the steamboat " Scott," which came up to the foot 
of the falls to give the men a last look at their homes. 

The morning of the departure of the brave Kentucky 
troops was bright and exhilarating, though many hearts 
were wrung with anguish at the parting. The troops 
marched to the residence of Mr. Ward, followed by 
friends who crowded to look their farewell. There was 
scarcely a dry eye in the vast throng as the youthful 
daughter of Mr. Ward appeared with a beautiful silken 
flag bearing the stars and stripes. This she presented ; 
and as the soldiers received it, and its rich folds were 
flung to the breeze, a burst of inspiring music filled 



MRS. SALLIE WARD HUNT. 9,31 

every heart with new hopes. The noble fellows marched 
away to the music amidst loud cheerings and faltered 
blessings. One of the principal officers of that celebrated 
"Legion" was General William Preston, who distin- 
guished himself in the Southern army. 

Miss Ward, accompanied by friends, drove to Port- 
land to present the star-spangled banner also to the 
" Louisville Guards." She often described the scene 
with emotion. " As those brave fellows marched by the 
open carriage in which I sat, each one lifting his hat to 
me, it was the proudest moment of my life. I esteemed 
the honor of being selected to present the flag to those 
noble sons of Kentucky far greater than all the flattery 
and homage of a ball-room." 

After the return of the troops, covered with honor, 
from the army, Miss Ward was one afternoon seated on 
her horse for a ride, when the two companies to whom 
she had presented the flags marched up and halted 
before her father's house. Unfurling the regimental 
banners, which they had carried through the entire 
campaign, they gave her a joyous greeting, " such as 
only brave men can give a woman. And, with my 
whole soul" she said, " I bade them welcome. I gazed 
with pride upon those flags, borne with honor and suc- 
cess through so many battles by the brave men before 
me." 

A letter- writer, describing an evening at the White 
Sulphur Springs, thus mentions Mrs. Johnston, another 
daughter of Mr. Ward : — 



232 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

" The cynosure of all eyes, the nucleus around which all gath- 
ered, was the newly arrived bride from Louisville, Kentucky, 
the daughter of Mr. Ward of that city, who is among the guests. 
We do not believe Tom Moore found any thing fairer when he 
went angel-hunting under the shade of the sumachs, than the 
picture-like face of this child-bride. Although her exquisite loveli- 
ness of feature, bright with the flush of early youth, is such as to 
throw the pretensions of others into the shade, yet her disposition 
seems so gentle, her naivete 1 so captivating, that it would be im- 
possible to cherish one jealous feeling against her. To our mind, 
the chief charm of this young creature is the shy, sweet tenderness 
in her face. Her diamonds and point d'Alencon would have 
rejoiced the courtly pencil of Vandyke." 

The White Sulphur Springs, in the mountainous 
region of Virginia, and surrounded by magnificent 
scenery, had long been the favorite resort of Fashion 
from the Southern and Southwestern States. Many 
were the belles who flourished here, season after season, 
and many were the fancy balls, that rivaled those of 
Saratoga and Newport. 

At a fancy ball given by Mrs. Robert J. Ward, her 
daughter Sallie was described as the centre of attraction. 
As Nourmahal, she wore a pink satin skirt, covered 
with silver lama, the bodice embroidered with silver 
and studded with diamonds ; the oriental white sleeves 
adorned with silver and gold ; the satin trousers spangled 
with gold. Her hair was braided with pearls and cov- 
ered with a Greek cap; her pink slippers were embroi- 
dered with silver, and splendid jewels profusely decorated 
the whole costume. The second dress — Nourmahal at 
the feast of Roses — was of white illusion dotted with 
silver, with a veil of silvery sheen and wreath of white 



MRS. SALLIE WARD HUNT. 283 

roses, and white silk boot8 with silver anklets. She 
bore the charmed lute. 

During her subsequent sojourn and travel in Europe 
she had opportunities for enjoying the master-pieces of 
art in all its forms, and her taste became critical, while 
her own powers were more developed. All who have 
known her bear testimony to her high intellectual cul- 
ture and varied accomplishments, as well as to her fault- 
less grace, and her excellence in the relations woman is 
called to bear, of daughter, wife, and mother. A distin- 
guished man remarked, that she "had the mind of a 
man, with the gentleness and refinement of a true 
woman." 

Not only in her native State, in the South, and in 
the courtly circles of London, but in other portions of 
the United States, was this gifted lady admired and 
courted as a leader of fashion. Her beauty was said to 
be absolutely dazzling. Her bright spirit, her " imperial 
elegance," combined with unaffected simplicity, her im- 
pulsive gayety united to gentleness, her charming wit 
and sprightliness in conversation, rendered her a favorite 
in every society. She was tall, with a form exquisitely 
symmetrical, combining majesty with bewitching grace. 
Her hands and feet were aristocratically small ; her fair 
complexion, large blue eyes, and delicately penciled 
eyebrows, with a wealth of auburn hair, were distinctive 
of a blonde. Her voice is melodious, low, and sweet, 
and admirably modulated ; " an excellent thing in 
woman," and rare in America. Nq justice to a woman's 



234 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

beauty can be done in a written description. But that 
she possesses a heart and mind of superior order, a soul 
above conventional distinctions, is evident to all who 
know her. She never seemed to prize the reputation 
of the fashionable belle, nor wished to be remembered 
merely as the idol of frivolous admiration ; she would 
rather turn from such adulation. The true and tried 
friendship of those she judges worthy of esteem, the dis- 
interested kindness of noble hearts — these she " grapples 
to her soul with hooks of steel ;" these she appreciates 
and values. A gentleman from New York, who had 
refused a letter of introduction to her, saying he was 
sure he would not like her, chanced to meet her at a 
friend's house, was introduced without hearing her 
name, and entered into animated conversation with 
her, not knowing, for hours, that the lady who had 
so charmed him was formerly the Miss Ward so cele- 
brated. He became one of her most devoted friends, 
and often said he " never knew a woman who had been 
so little understood." 

The refined taste which showed itself in this lady's 
love of music, painting, and sculpture, always appeared 
in her style of dress. This was rich, but never ostenta- 
tious nor incongruous. A French gentleman who was 
presented to her expressed his surprise at her faultless 
costume, saying, with enthusiasm, " If the rest of her 
character corresponds with her taste in dress, she must 
be perfect," and observing that he had rarely seen such 
in American ladies. 




HJHTT. 



MRS. SALLTE WARD HUNT. 235 

The generous charity of Mrs. Hunt has ever been 
warm and free. The poor were always her friends. 
The little daughters of her dressmakers and working- 
people, who were named after her, were always noticed 
kindly, and she seemed more pleased with the compli- 
ment from them than from wealthy parents of little 
" Sallie "Wards " covered with lace and jewels. 

Before her marriage, Miss "Ward had been accus- 
tomed to spend the winters in New Orleans. After she 
was married to Dr. Hunt, and before the civil war, her 
residence was in New Orleans for seven years. Her 
home was a palace in splendor. The furniture for some 
of her rooms was made after the model of that used in 
the apartments of the Duchess of Orleans, in Paris; 
covered with white satin embroidered with chenille in 
wreaths and bouquets, with gilded framing richly 
carved ; and divans and sofas covered with light blue 
satin, embroidered with white lilies, in rose-wood frames. 
The style in which Dr. Hunt lived corresponded with 
this magnificence. Several carriages were kept, with a 
retinue of servants. The dinner-parties were splendid, 
and always accompanied by music from the orchestra of 
the French Opera. The dining-room opened on a mar- 
ble court, in the centre of which was a beautiful marble 
fountain, with jets arranged so as to play in figures. 
One of these was turned on every day just before dinner 
was announced; and the freshness and music of falling 
waters were an agreeable adjunct in that warm climate 
to the enjoyment of the meal. Surrounded with luxury 



236 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

by a husband whose wealth was devoted to her gratifica- 
tion, Mrs. Hunt was the centre of a choice circle of 
friends, dispensing hospitality in a style suited to her 
liberal feelings, and happy in promoting the enjoyment 
of those around her. The house was adorned with the 
finest statuary and paintings. Her superb entertain- 
ments were the delight of distinguished guests, as 
marked by refined taste. 

At a fancy dress and masquerade party given by 
Miss Lillie Ward, in compliment to one of the belles of 
Cincinnati, Mrs. Hunt's light blue moire antique dress 
was remarkable for its decorations of magnificent point 
lace and diamonds of wonderful size and brilliancy. 
The necklace was composed of thirty-two "solitaires'" 
of immense value. She wore a superb point lace shawl. 
The fair young hostess appeared as a Polish princess at 
the Russian Court, in a dress of heavy white silk, the 
skirt trimmed with ermine, and four rows of wide scar- 
let satin bands embroidered with gold. The corsage 
was high, and striped across the front with scarlet satin 
bands and gold lace. A hussar jacket of scarlet satin, 
embroidered with gold and trimmed with ermine, hung 
from her left shoulder, fastened with a gold cord and 
tassel. A jaunty cap of scarlet satin, with band of er- 
mine and the emblematic Polish feather, fastened with 
opal and diamonds, completed the costume. 

A general, distinguished in the late war, who met 
Mrs. Hunt at a party in Louisville, wrote an eloquent 
description of her. " For each epoch of life," he said, 



MRS. SALLIE WARD HUNT. 237 

" the style of her beauty was the appropriate model.'' 
" What I noted chiefly was, the fullness of soul, the ex- 
pression of refined intellect, that beamed from her eyes 
and was revealed in every lineament and movement. 
Her every word expressed a thought, while her language 
and manner were unaffected and simple as a child's." 
"Her benevolent spirit finds exercise in diffusing de- 
light." 

In her domestic life at her present home, Mrs. Hi nt 
displays the noble gifts and graces of her true nature. 
Death has bereaved her of her devoted husband ; — 
but, surrounded by affectionate relatives — and engrossed 
by the employment of teaching her only child, a bright 
and noble boy, forming and developing his character for 
the greatest usefulness in life, and giving time and efforts 
to aid religious works under the auspices of her church — 
she has crowned a lovely youth with the meek virtues 
of Christian womanhood. It is rarely that the flower 
reared in the perilous glare of the world's homage thus 
preserves its bloom and fragrance to brighten the shady 
walks of life. Perhaps, in the United States, there has 
been no woman so much flattered and courted ; and the 
fact that the pure simplicity of her character has not 
been impaired, argues a truly elevated mind. She seems 
to desire, above all worldly things, to be loved by her 
family and friends ; and amply is her wish gratified, 
while the society in which she lives owns the gentlest 
and sweetest of womanly influences. 



238 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 



XI. 



In preparing a limited sketch of Mrs. Madison, one 
labors under many difficulties. The subject must inter- 
est every American ; yet the outline cannot be filled up 
with such details of life and character as would make a 
picture worthy of the noble original. Those of her own 
family who knew and loved her must be sensible of this 
disability. Her life, too, was so closely interwoven with 
that of Mr. Madison, by their mutual devotion to each 
other's interests and happiness, and their perfect unison 
of opinion and feeling in outside affairs, that a memoir 
of the lady must be incomplete without continual refe- 
rence to her husband. Her kind and genial disposition, 
her delicate tact and good sense, were brought into exer- 
cise chiefly in the "aid and comfort " rendered to him; 
as also were those graces of mind and person which 
made the home of the Secretary of State, of the Presi- 
dent, and, lastly, of the retired patriot and statesman, so 
charming a retreat, and so attractive alike to political 
friends and opponents. 

The true character of Mrs. Madison can only be 
delineated properly by a faithful description of the whole 
tenor of her life, and of her consistent conduct during 
her eventful experience. I must deprecate, therefore, in 



MRS. MADISON. 239 

the commencement of this brief notice, the criticism of 
her friends, who have a right to expect a portraiture 
satisfactory to their recollections. Such would require a 
volume of itself. This imperfect sketch may, however, 
suggest an extended memoir by some able pen, before 
the materials are lost. 

John Payne, the grandfather of Mrs. Madison, was 
an English gentleman of wealth and liberal educa- 
tion. He came to reside in this country, and settled 
in Goochland County, Virginia. His wife was Anna 
Fleming, grand-daughter of Sir Thomas Fleming, who 
landed at Jamestown in 1616, and afterwards settled 
in the county of New Kent. (Their son, John Payne, 
removed to North Carolina, where was situated the 
plantation his father had given him. He married 
Mary, the daughter of William Coles, a native of Ennis- 
corthy, in Ireland. Not long after his marriage he re- 
turned to Yirginia, and purchased an estate in Hanover 
County. He served as captain in the American army 
during the Revolutionary war. He had six children, of 
whom the oldest and youngest were sons. The eldest 
daughter is the subject of this sketch. Of her three 
sisters, Lucy, in 1792, married George Steptoe Washing- 
ton (a nephew of General Washington), who owned a 
splendid estate in Jefferson County, Yirginia ; and after- 
wards, in 1811, Thomas Todd, of Kentucky, one of the 
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. 

Anna Payne married Hon. Richard Cutts, member 
of Congress from the District of Maine, in 1804; and 



240 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Mary Payne, in 1800, was wedded to General G. J. 
Jackson, a prominent member of Congress from Vir- 
ginia. 

Dorothy Payne was born May 20, 1772, while her 
parents were on a visit to North Carolina, and received 
her name in honor of a beloved relative, Mrs. Henry, of 
Yirginia. Both her parents became strict members of 
the Society of Friends, and were among the first of their 
sect in Yirginia who had conscientious scruples as to the 
right of holding slaves as property. In 1786, their plan- 
tation in Virginia was sold, and with their negroes they 
removed to Philadelphia, where they gave all the slaves 
their freedom. One of the women, "Mother Amy," 
the nurse of the little Dorothy, would not consent to 
leave her kind master and mistress. She remained in 
their household, and was always faithful to their service. 
Being thrifty and saving, she laid up her wages, and at 
her death bequeathed five hundred dollars to Mrs. 
Payne. 

In early youth Dorothy was remarkable for personal 
beauty and for grace of manners, joined to a modesty 
and gentleness that disarmed envy. She was bright 
and lively, endowed with a power of fascination felt by 
all who approached her, and withal was kind-hearted 
and full of sympathy. As her parents were in moderate 
circumstances, she owed neither to wealth nor hereditary 
possession the attention she received. In 1791, she was 
married to John Todd, of Philadelphia, a wealthy young 
lawyer, who also belonged to the Society of Friends. The 



MRS. MADISON. 2-il 

youthful pair lived in simplicity and seclusion, but were 
not long united. Mr. Payne died a few months after 
the marriage, and in 1793, during the prevalence of the 
yellow fever in Philadelphia, Mr. Todd fell a victim to 
the disease, leaving Dorothy a widow with two children, 
one of whom survived its father but a short time. The 
other son, John Payne Todd, lived to be nearly sixty 
years of age. 

Mrs. Todd returned to the home of her widowed 
mother in Philadelphia. Young and lovely as she was, 
her natural frank gayety prevailed over the depression 
of sorrow, and she soon became a great favorite in 
society. She was surrounded by suitors for her fair 
hand. One among them — James Madison, then a mem- 
ber of Congress from Yirginia — was successful in laying 
siege to her heart. In truth, it is said she never before 
knew what love was till he became her affianced hus- 
band. 

Towards the close of 1794, the youthful widow, ac- 
companied by her son, her sister Anna, and other 
friends, among them her accepted lover, left Philadel- 
phia for Herewood, the country-seat of her sister, Mrs. 
Washington. The gay party spent a week in making 
the journey, and shortly after their arrival Mrs. Todd 
was married to Mr. Madison ; the Rev. Dr. Belmaine, 
of the Episcopal Church, who resided in Winchester, 
performing the nuptial ceremony. The event was cele- 
brated with the festivities usual on such occasions, and 

the bridal pair proceeded to Montpelier, in Orange 
11 



24:2 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

County, Virginia, where they took up their residence 
with the father of Mr. Madison. 

The hospitality of the Yirginia planter, now a tra- 
dition, was then in its golden prime. Mr. Madison's 
house overflowed with guests, and various social plea- 
sures made the hours and days pass rapidly. Mrs. 
Madison's mother and sister were invited to share in the 
enjoyments of her new home, and she, on her part, be- 
came devotedly attached to the mother of her husband. 
Harmony and mutual affection, with the enlivening 
society of friends and the luxuries a liberal fortune could 
command, made the place a little paradise. Mr. Madi- 
son continued in Congress — then holding its sessions in 
Philadelphia — until 1797. During these years of home 
and social pleasures, his beautiful wife had gradually 
changed the sober dress and grave manners of the Qua- 
keress for an attire and deportment better suited to the 
part she was destined to take as a leader in society. 
She retained, however, the fundamental principles of the 
faith in which she had been educated ; and no contact 
with the world could divest her of that softness of man- 
ner and gentle dignity, that sympathizing kindness of 
heart and universal charity, which she inherited from 
her parents as a part of her nature. 

Mr. Madison was appointed Secretary of State by 
President Jefferson, in 1801, and removed his residence 
shortly after to Washington. The new National capital 
was at that time little better than a wilderness. The 
house to v.-hich Mrs. Madison was brought stood on a 



MRS. MADISON 243 

barren waste, in which were scattered rough masses of 
stone half hidden by the foliage of oak trees, like ruins 
over which moss and ivy clustered. The silence and 
solitude of the premises were almost appalling. The 
society of the place consisted of families unaccustomed 
to the new aspect of things, and not harmonized by simi- 
larity of habits, nor by established modes of living. 
They formed, in truth, a motley throng, in need of mu- 
tual aid and adaptation to bring them into the degree 
of unison necessary to make their association in any way 
agreeable. Here Mrs. Madison's ready sympathies and 
exquisite tact came into full requisition. She did much 
to unite the discordant elements, and make her neigh- 
bors, as Mr. Jefferson said, "like one family." The 
spirit of union and kindly feeling began to pervade 
society, and grew as the social intercourse, unshackled 
by etiquette or empty ceremony, became more genial 
and extended. In the absence of Mr. Jefferson's daugh- 
ters, Mrs. Madison presided in the Executive mansion, 
and her influence was the true fostering genius to which 
the happy change was due. The house of the Secretary 
of State, next to the President's, was the resort of the 
greatest number of guests. Foreign ministers and visit- 
ors, senators, representatives, and persons of various 
political opinions, there met and conversed freely, while 
party spirit lost its bitterness in that pleasant atmo- 
sphere. How much of this softening of asperities was 
owing to the peculiar charm of the manner of the fair 
hostess, to her gracious affability, her cordial ease and 



244 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

frankness, and her faculty of banishing the evil cloud 
from the horizon, probably none knew, for the sweetest 
moral influences are felt rather than discerned by out- 
ward sense. The table of the Secretary was continually 
surrounded by guests, and was spread with the profusion 
of Yirginian hospitality, sometimes at the expense, it must 
be confessed, of the refined elegance of European taste. 
The wife of a foreign minister once ridiculed the enor- 
mous size and the number of the dishes with which the 
table was loaded, and remarked that it was more like a 
harvest-home supper than the entertainment of a Secre- 
tary of State.* On hearing of this observation, Mrs. 
Madison replied, that she thought abundance preferable 
to elegance ; that customs were created by circum- 
stances, and tastes by customs ; and that, as the profu- 
sion so repugnant to foreign ideas of propriety arose 
from the happy circumstance of the superabundance and 
prosperity granted by a bountiful Providence to our 
favored land, she did not hesitate to sacrifice the deli- 
cacy of European taste to the less elegant but more 
liberal fashion of Virginia. That profusely spread table, 
indeed, supplied the daily food of many poor families. 

Mr. Madison held the office of Secretary of State 
for eight years. During this time the same hospitable 
and kindly relations were sustained with the citizens, 



* I have availed myself of a sketch of Mrs. Madison in the " National 
Portrait Gallery," written by Mrs. S. H. Smith, an old and esteemed friend 
of the family. I am indebted for other materials to Mr. Richard D. Cutts, 
of Washington, the nephew of Mrs. Madison. 



MRS. MADISON. 245 

and reciprocal civilities strengthened mutual good-will. 
While her husband was absorbed in public business, 
Mrs. Madison discharged the duties devolving upon her, 
as his helpmeet and the mistress of his home, in social 
entertainments and as a visitor to others. Never was 
woman better fitted by nature and attainments for the 
difficult aud delicate task. In her conspicuous position, 
exposed to jealousy and misconstruction, she managed to 
conciliate the good-will of all without offending the self- 
love of any one. Every visitor left her, it is said, under 
the impression that he or she had been received with 
favor, and had secured some portion of the esteem of the 
charming lady. One of her peculiarities was, that she 
rarely or never forgot a name, a face, or any occurrence 
worth remembering. Her quickness of recognition, and 
ready recurrence to the peculiar interest of an individual, 
doubtless went far to enlist the feelings of those with 
whom she conversed ; yet her sympathies were genuine, 
and she never feigned a regard she could not feel. 

While in the exercise of hospitality and in dispensing 
charity, her profusion was unchecked, Mrs. Madison's 
house was plainly furnished, and her dress was far from 
extravagant. In this respect her example is an admira- 
ble one for the ladies of the present day. 

As the time approached for the election of another 
President — Mr. Madison being a candidate — political in- 
trigues were rife in Washington. The times were trying 
beyond precedent, and the war of conflicting parties was 
severe. Here was a field for more than diplomatic tact ; 



246 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

for the play of woman's true wisdom, and her gentlest 
ministrations in reconciling dhTerences. Mrs. Madison 
proved herself " equal to the situation." She met politi- 
cal assailants with mildness, and by "the soft answer" 
turned away the rancor of hostile party feeling. Many 
a political foe did she convert into a friend and follower 
of Madison. The bitterness of opposition was neutral- 
ized by her amiable civilities, which she took care should 
never be influenced by party politics. " Her snuff-box," 
says a friend, " had magic influence ; who could partake 
of the offered dainty and retain enmity?" Thus the 
most violent partisans in her presence stood smiling and 
courteous, and the kindly feelings her generous polite- 
ness awakened in the end triumphed over animosities. 
!No human heart can resist the gentle approach of " melt- 
ing charity," and the excellent effect of Mrs. Madison's 
tactics — if so they may be called — was soon evident. 
Her husband was elected to the Presidency of the 
United States, and was inaugurated in March, 1809. 

At the first reception given, Mr. Jefferson was sur- 
rounded by a crowd of admiring friends, anxious to 
express their regret for his impending departure. As 
the fairer portion of the throng pressed forward, a gen- 
tleman said, " The ladies will follow you." — " That is 
right," replied the ex-President, " since I am too old to 
follow them ;" and added, " I remember, in France, 
when Dr. Franklin's friends were taking leave of him, 
the ladies almost smothered him with embraces. On his 
introducing me to them as his successor, I told them 



MRS. MADISON". 247 

that, among the rest of his privileges, I wished he would 
transfer this enviable one to me. . But he answered, 
' ~No, no ; you are too young a man.' " 

One of the ladies whispered, " Why does lie forget 
that that distinction no longer exists ?" 

A splendid ball celebrated the inauguration of Mad- 
ison, and Jefferson came early to receive his successor. 
The band struck up at the entrance of each party. Mrs. 
Madison was led to a seat at the upper end of the room. 
She " looked and moved a queen." She wore a robe of 
buff-colored velvet, with rich pearls on her neck and 
arms, and a Paris turban with a bird-of-paradise plume. 
Jefferson, who was all life and exhilaration, replied to a 
remark on the paleness and apparent exhaustion of the 
new President : " Can you wonder at it ! My shoulders 
have just been freed from a heavy burden; his just 
laden with it." When the manager brought Mrs. Mad- 
ison the first number in the dance, she said, smiling : 
" I never dance ; what shall I do with it ?" — " Give it to 
the lady next you," was the answer. " No ; that would 
look like partiality." — '' Then I will," said the manager, 
and presented it to her sister. 

The Presidential mansion now became more than 
ever the center of a gay and brilliant society. Large 
dinner parties were given every week, and a drawing- 
room was opened, where the beauty and fashion of the 
nation had a suitable field for display. The stiff formal- 
ity and rigid ceremonials which had marked the rule of 
Mr3. Washington, were exchanged for ease, freedom, and 



2-iS QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

lively conversation, all unnecessary etiquette being ban- 
ished. Mrs. Madison's own manner was distinguished 
by sweet dignity and an amiable courtliness that adorned 
her high station, without the least admixture of pride or 
pretension ; it was gracious and winning without famil- 
iarity, and modest without too much reserve. 

Mrs. Adams wrote to her daughter, June, 1809 : 
" With respect to Mrs. Madison's influence, it ought to 
be such as Solomon describes his virtuous woman's to be, 
— one who should do him good and not evil all the days 
of her life, — so that the heart of her husband may safely 
trust in her. I believe I may say with safety that her 
predecessors left her no evil example." 

The bright aspect of affairs was soon changed. "War 
raged over the country, and brought desolation in its 
train, as it threatened the National capital in 1S14. The 
terror was wide spread ; the inhabitants fled to neigh- 
boring towns for refuge as the advancing cannon was 
heard booming in the distance, and dismay came upon 
all who remained. The President had gone to hold a 
council of war, and no entreaties could prevail on Mrs. 
Madison to leave the city of Washington in his absence. 
In vain the friends who implored her to escape had the 
carriage brought to the door ; she refused to enter it. 
At this juncture, her feelings may best be seen by her 
letter to her sister : — 

* ^ "Tuesday, August 23, 1814. 

u Dear Si^er: — 

" My husband left me yesterday morning to join General Winder, 
lie inquired^auxiously whether I had courage and firmness to re- 



MRS. MADISON. 249 

main in the Presidential house till his return, and on my assurance 
that I had no fear but for him and the success of our army, he left 
me, beseeching me to take care of myself and of the cabinet 
papers, public and private. I have since received two dispatches 
from him, written with a pencil. The last is alarming, because he 
desires I should be ready at a moment's warning to enter my car- 
riage and leave the city ; that the enemy seemed stronger than had 
been reported, and that it might happen that they would reach the 
city ■with intention to destroy it. * * * * 

I am accordingly ready. I have pressed as many cabinet papers 
into trunks as to fill one carriage. Our private property must be 
sacrificed, as it is impossible to procure wagons for its transporta- 
tion. I am determined not to go myself until I see Mr. Madison 
safe, and he can accompany me, as I hear of much hostility 
towards him. * * * Disaffection stalks around us. * * * 
My friends are all gone ; even Colonel C, with his hundred men, 
who were stationed as a guard in this inclosure. French John (a 
faithful domestic), with his usual activity and resolution, offers to 
spike the cannon at the gate, and to lay a train of powder which 
would blow up the British should they enter the house. To 
the last proposition I positively object, without being able, bow- 
ever, to make him understand why all advantages in war may not 
be taken. 

"Wednesday morning, twelve o'clock. Since sunrise I have been 
turning my spy-glass in every direction, and watching with un- 
wearied anxiety, hoping to discern the approach of my dear hus- 
band and his friends; but alas! I can descry only groups of mili- 
tary wandering in all directions, as if there was a lack of arms or 
spirit to fight for their own firesides! 

" Three o'clock. Will you believe it, my sister, we have had a 
battle or skirmish near Bladensburgh, and I am still here within 
sound of the cannon ! Mr. Madison comes not. May God protect 
him! Two messengers, covered with dust, come to bid me fly; 
but I wait for him. * * * At this late hour a wagon has been 
procured; I have had it filled with the plate and most valuable 
portable articles belonging to the house. Whether it will reach its 
destination, -the Bank of Maryland, or fall into the hands of British 
soldiery, events must determine. 

" Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, 
11* 



250 QUEENS OF AMERICAN" SOCIETY. 

and is in a very bad humor with me, because I insist on waiting 
until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it 
requires to be unscrewed from the wall. This process was found 
too tedious for these perilous moments ; I have ordered the frame 
to be broken and the canvas taken out. It is done, and the pre- 
cious portrait is placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New 
York for safe-keeping. And now, dear sister, I must leave this 
house, or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it, by fill- 
ing up the road I am directed to take. When I shall again write 
to you, or where I shall be to-morrow, I cannot tell." 

Such was the truly gallant conduct of- this admirable 
woman on a most trying occasion, and such her tender 
anxieties for the husband from whom she would never 
permit herself to be separated for more than a day or 
two, during their forty-two years of married life. 

"When Mrs. Madison did the honors of the Presiden- 
tial house, on the news of peace, in 1815, she was in the 
meridian of her life and queenly beauty. She was de- 
scribed on that occasion as radiant witli joy, and dis- 
pensing hospitalities and exchanging congratulations 
with unrivaled grace. "Washington Irving mentioned 
her " as a fine, portly, buxom dame, who has a smile and 
a pleasant word for everybody." Her sisters, Mrs. Cutts 
and Mrs. Washington, he playfully compared to "the 
merry wives of Windsor." 

During the remainder of Madison's administration he 
lived in a private house, but continued to receive and 
entertain company with undiminished hospitality. At 
the close of his second term, March, IS IT, he quitted 
Washington, and returned to his mountain home — Mont- 
pelier — where he passed the remaining years of his life, 



MRS. MADISON. 251 

with annual visits to Charlottesville, to serve as a mem- 
ber of the Board of Visitors of the University. One 
visit he paid to Richmond, in 1829, to preside over the 
Convention called to revise the Constitution of Virginia. 
Mrs. Madison always accompanied him on these excur- 
sions ; and when they went to Charlottesville they were 
the guests of Mr. Jefferson, as long as he lived. 

The following letter from Judge William Johnson, 
of the United States Supreme Court, to Mrs. Madison, 
may show the estimation in which she was held, and the 
general feeling at her departure from Washington : — 

"Washington, 1S17. 

"I am this moment on the eve of leaving "Washington, and shall 
leave it without a parting interview with oue whom I must he 
indulged in the liberty of comprising among the most respected and 
most cherished of my friends. 

"But you, madam, cannot mistake the feelings which dictate to 
me this mode of making you an humble tender of a most affection- 
ate adieu. 

" You are now about to enter upon the enjoyment of the most 
enviable state which can fall to the lot of mankind— to carry with 
you to your retirement the blessings of all who ever knew you. 
Think not, madam, that I address to you the language of flattery. 
It is what no one but yourself would hesitate at conceding. And 
be assured that all who have ever enjoyed the honor of your 
acquaintance, will long remember that polite condescension which 
never failed to encourage the diffident, that suavity of manner 
which tempted the morose or thoughtful to be cheerful, or that 
benevolence of aspect which suffered no one to turn from you 
without an emotion of gratitude. 

"Permit, madam, one who has shared his due proportion of 
your attentions to make you a sincere tender of the most heartfelt 
gratitude and respect, and to wish that you may long enjoy every 
blessing that Heaven dispenses to the meritorious. 



252 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

" Do me the favor to tender to Mr. Madison also a respectful 
adieu, and a cordial and sincerely friendly one to your son. 
" Very respectfully, 

" William Johnson, Je." 

Montpelier was a beautiful place, less than a day's 
journey from Monticello, whence the Blue Ridge could 
be traced a hundred and fifty miles. Thus Jefferson 
and Madison were neighbors in the Yirginian accepta- 
tion of the term. The tranquillity and dignity of 
domestic retirement were very agreeable to Mr. and 
Mrs. Madison. Their house was large and commodious, 
arranged more with a view to comfort than ornament, 
and stood at the foot of a lofty and densely wooded hill, 
commanding a view of scenery remarkable for its pic- 
turesque beauty. There was a fine garden and grounds, 
and an extensive lawn shaded by forest trees. The 
place was called " Montpelier " on account of the salu- 
brity of the situation. One wing of the building was 
appropriated entirely to the use of the venerable mother 
of Madison; it had offices and a garden attached to it. 
The aged matron was attended by her old family ser- 
vants, and surrounded by children and grandchildren. 
Thus under one roof were exhibited the customs of the 
end and the beginning of a century. By opening a door, 
you passed from the refined elegancies and the gayetics 
of modern life, into all that was venerable and dignified 
in by-gone days ; from airy apartments and windows 
opening to the ground and hung with light silken 
drapery — from French furniture, light fancy chairs, gay 



MES. MADISON". 253 

carpets, &c, to solid and heavy, carved and polished 
mahogany furniture, darkened by age ; to the thick, rich 
curtains and comfortable adjustments of our great -grand- 
mothers' time. It was a great favor to gay visitors to 
be permitted to pay their respects to the President's 
mother. She usually sat upon a couch, beside which 
stood a small table, nearly covered with large, dark, 
well-worn quarto and folio volumes. " The venerable 
matron closed one of them, and took up her knitting. 
4 Look at my fingers,' she said ; ' you will perceive I 
have not been idle.' Delicate fingers they were, and 
polished by knitting. ' I owe every thing to her y she 
added, pointing to her daughter in-law, Mrs. Madison. 
' She is my mother now, and tenderly cares for all my 
wants.' Never was Mrs. Madison so lovely in her 
splendid drawing-rooms, surrounded by courtly and 
brilliant circles, the center of attraction — never so esti- 
mable, as in her loving attendance on this venerable 
woman." She took delight in the society of the young, 
and participated in their pleasures, to which she always 
contributed by her presence. A more affectionate and 
devoted wife never existed ; and tenderly did she soothe 
and comfort her husband in his long imprisonment with 
illness. 

An extract from one of her letters to Mrs. Richard 
Cutts is illustrative of life at Moutpelier at the period 
when it was written : — 

"Montpelier, July 5, 1S20. 

" I have just received yours, my dear sister, and rejoice that 
you arc all well. * * * * * * 



254 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

" Yesterday we had ninety persons to dine with us at one table, 
fixed on the lawn, under a large arbor. The dinner was profuse 
and handsome, and the company very orderly. Many of your old 
acquaintances were here — among them the two Barbours. We 
had no ladies except Mother Madison, Mrs. Macon, and Nelly 
Willis. The day was cool and all pleasant. Half a dozen only 
staid all night, and are now about to depart. President Monroe's 
letter this morning announces the French Minister; we expect him 
this evening, or perhaps sooner, though he may not come until to- 
morrow; but I am less worried here with a hundred visitors than 
with twenty-five in Washington, this summer especially. I wish 
you had just such a country home as this, as I truly believe it is 
the happiest and most independent life, and would be best for your 
children. ******* 

" Your devoted sister, 

"D. P. Madison." 



Within a few months after Mrs. Madison had been 
bereaved of her husband, her health utterly failed ; and 
during the winter of 1836-37, she suffered greatly from 
a painful affection of the eyes ; being compelled to keep 
her bed, with closely drawn curtains, for the greater 
part of the time. As the spring advanced she began to 
recover; and, as her physician earnestly recommended 
change of air and scene, she went to spend part of the 
summer at the White Sulphur Springs, in Virginia. At 
the end of August she returned to Montpelier, much im- 
proved in health. On many accounts she dreaded the 
solitude of a winter residence at this mountain home. 
Her brother John and his family, who had been living 
for many years in her immediate neighborhood, in that 
autumn removed to Kentucky, leaving one of his daugh- 
ters — Anna Payne — in the charge of Mrs. Madison. It 



MRS. MADISON. 255 

■was, therefore, not surprising to her friends that she 
decided on another visit to Washington. She owned a 
house situated in the most pleasant part of the city, near 
to the children of her sister Anna and to many of her 
most valued friends. These, and inde:d the whole so- 
ciety of Washington, including many who were strangers 
to her, warmly welcomed her return in 1837. 

Finding a residence here more congenial to her feel- 
ings, she remained in Washington, witli occasional visits 
to Montpelier. If she could not enjoy social gayeties as 
she formerly did, her benevolence and sympathy for 
those in distress were as lively as ever. Many times did 
she interpose with aid in cases of suffering or injustice, 
and her charities were limited only by her means. 
These became much straitened in the later years of her 
life ; and the loss of fortune was felt most severely by 
her in the deprivation of her ability to extend liberal 
assistance to the needy, and to entertain the friends to 
whom her sincere and tender heart clung with undevi- 
ating aifection. 

It was a sad day for her when her pecuniary embar- 
rassments compelled Mrs. Madison to consent to the sale 
of Montpelier. In 1812, accompanied by her niece, Miss 
Payne, and her nephew, Richard D. Cutts, she visited 
Philadelphia, and thence proceeded to New York, where 
the party spent a few days at the Astor House before 
returning to Washington. 

Mrs. Madison was one of the guests on board the 
Princeton, at the time of the explosion of the " big gun*" 



256 QUEENS OF AMERICAN" SOCIETY. 

in 1844. The catastrophe occurred immediately after 
dinner, while most of the ladies were in the cabin, hav- 
ing fortunately lingered there to hear some merry songs 
by the young people. It was in the same year that the 
House of Representatives paid to Mrs. Madison an 
unusual and signal mark of respect, by offering her 
the privilege of a seat on the floor of the Hall, whenever 
she might desire to attend the sittings. This was a testi- 
mony of homage never before or since offered to a lady. 

The noble qualities of head and heart which distin- 
guished Mrs. Madison were crowned by deep and fervent 
piety. She was constant in her attendance, while resi- 
dent in Washington, at the Episcopal Church of St. 
John's, which was built during Madison's administra- 
tion ; and on her return she found her old friend still the 
rector. She was confirmed as a member of the church 
by Bishop Whittingham, of Maryland. 

In the last year of her life she suffered from extreme 
debility, but her mental faculties were not in the least 
impaired. Her memory was often busy with the past ; 
she would have old letters read to her, and seemed to 
connect with them associations unknown to those around 
her. She took great delight in hearing the Bible read. 
It was while listening to a portion of the Gospel of St. 
John — the part of the New Testament which she most 
loved — that she sank into her last peaceful slumber. 
The sleep lasted so long as to cause alarm ; and when 
the physician was summoned, he pronounced it slow 
apoplexy. For two days she lingered, apparently with- 



ELEANOR PARK CUSTIS. 257 

out suffering, and only occasionally roused to a con- 
sciousness manifested rather by loving smiles bestowed 
on those around her than by words. She died on the 
8th of July, 1849. The funeral took place on the 11th. 
The body, incased in a sarcophagus, was temporarily 
deposited in a vault in the Congressional Cemetery. In 
January, 1858, the sacred remains were removed by 
Mrs. Madison's nephew, Mr. Richard D. Cutts, to the 
family burial-ground at Montpelier, and placed by the 
side of her husband. A separate monument was erected 
to her memory; a monument to Mr. Madison having 
already been put up the year previously by his friends 
in Virginia. 



Eleanor Parke Custis was considered one of the most 
beautiful and brilliant women of her day. Her portrait 
is preserved with care among the treasures at Arlington 
House. She was the grand-daughter of Mrs. Washing- 
ton, with whom she lived. She was never suffered to 
waste her time in idleness ; being required, in addition 
to other studies, to practice the harpsichord four or five 
hours daily. One day, not hearing the music, Mrs. 
Washington came down stairs, and remarked that she 
had heard some one go out of the house, so that the 
young lady must have had a visitor. Noticing a blemish 
on the wall, which had been newly painted cream color, 
she exclaimed : " Ah, it was no Federalist !" pointing to 
the spot just over the settee ; " none but a filthy Demo- 



258 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

crat would mark a place with his good-for-nothing head 
in that manner !" 

In the beginning of 1798 Eleanor was a blooming 
girl, exceedingly attractive in person and manners, and 
a great favorite with General Washington. Lawrence 
Lewis, Washington's favorite nephew — the son of his 
sister Elizabeth — was at that time living at Mount 
Yernon, and learned to love Nelly Custis. But a seem- 
ing rival arose in the person of Charles Carroll of Carroll- 
ton, who had just returned from Europe, accomplished, 
well educated, and adorned with the social graces 
derived from foreign travel. Young Custis was pleased 
with Carroll, and, being anxious to secure Nelly's hap- 
piness, wrote to the General in April, 1798, that he 
thought it would be a desirable match. Washington 

wrote in reply : " Young Mr. C came here about a 

fortnight ago to dinner, and left us next morning after 
breakfast. If his object was such as you say has been 
reported, it was not declared here, and therefore the 
less said upon the subject, particularly by your sister's 
friends, the more prudent it will be, until the subject 
developes itself more." 

Other suitors, meanwhile, came to Mount Yernon, 
and paid homage to the wit and beauty of Miss Custis. 
She wrote to a friend: "I was young and romantic 
then, and fond of wandering alone by moonlight in the 
woods of Mount Yernon. Grandmamma thought it 
wrong and unsafe, and scolded and coaxed me into a 
promise that I would not wander in the woods again 



ELEANOR PARK CUSTIS. 259 

unaccompanied. But I was missing one evening, and 
was brought home from the interdicted woods to the 
drawing-room, where the General was walking up and 
down with his hands behind him, as was his wont. 
Grandmamma, seated in her great arm-chair, opened a 
severe reproof." 

Poor Nelly, taxed with delinquency, admitted her 
fault, and offered no excuse — but when there was a slight 
pause, she moved to leave the room. She was just 
closing the door behind her, when she overheard the 
General attempting, in a low voice, to intercede in her 
behalf. " My dear," he said, " I would say no more ; 
perhaps she was not alone." 

This intercession stopped Miss Kelly in her retreat. 
She opened the door again quickly, and walked up to 
the General with a firm step. " Sir," she said, " you 
brought me up to speak the truth; and when I told 
Grandmamma I was alone, I hope you believe I was 
alone." 

The General made one of his magnanimous bows, 
and replied, " My child, I beg your pardon." 

Eleanor was married to Lawrence Lewis on the 
birthday of the Chief, 1799. 

It was a bright day in the early spring of the South. 
The flowers were budding in the hedges ; the bluebird, 
making its way cautiously northward, gave out a few 
joyous notes in the garden ; and nature seemed to sym- 
pathize in the hilarity that prevailed at Mount Yernon 
on that auspicious February morning. The bride was 



260 QUEENS OP AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

dearly loved by lier relatives; Major Lewis was near 
his uncle's heart for the sake of his dead mother, who 
bore so striking a resemblance to the great Chief, that 
sometimes, when in sport she would put a chapeau on 
her head and throw a military cloak over her shoulders, 
she might easily have been mistaken for himself. 

It was the bride's wish that the General should wear 
on that occasion the splendid embroidered uniform 
which the board of general officers had adopted ; but 
Washington would not appear in a costume bedizened 
with tinsel ; preferring the plain old continental blue 
and buff, with a modest black ribbon and cockade. The 
magnificent white plumes which General Pinckney had 
presented to him he gave to the bride ; and to the Rev. 
Thomas Davis, the rector of Christ Church, Alexandria, 
who performed the marriage ceremony, he gave an 
elegant copy of Mrs. Macaulay's* " History of England," 
in eight volumes, telling him they were written by a 
remarkable woman, who had visited America many 
years before. She had crossed the Atlantic in 17S5 to 
see General Washington. 

Mrs. Mary Custis, of Arlington, the wife of Mrs. 
Washington's grandson, was the daughter of William 
Fitzhugh, of Chatham. Bishop Meade says: "Scarcely 
was there a Christian lady more honored ; none more 
loved and esteemed." 

Mrs. Marshall, the wife of Chief Justice Marshall, of 

* Catharine Macaulay Graham. 



MRS. MARSHALL — MRS. SITGREAVES. 261 

Richmond, Virginia, was devoted to her husband. After 
her death, in 1831, he often repeated General Burgoyne's 
lines, substituting " Mary " for " Anna " : — 

" Encompassed in an angel's frame, 
An angel's virtues lay; 
Too soon did Heaven assert its claim, 
And take its own away. 

"My Mary's worth, my Mary's charms, 
Can never more return ; 
"What now shall fill these widowed arms! 
Ah me I my Mary's urnl 
Ah me! ah me! my Mary's urnl" 

An intimate friend of" Nelly Custis" was Mary A. 
Sitgreaves, the second child of Colonel Daniel Kemper, 
of the Revolutionary army. She was born in New York, 
in April, 1774. Her early associations were with per- 
sons distinguished in those times. When New York 
was threatened by the British, her father removed his 
family to Morristown, New Jersey. While the head- 
quarters of General Washington were in the neighbor- 
hood, Miss Kemper was in the habit of playing about 
the Chief's premises, and now and then running into his 
marquee. Mrs. Washington one day was busy in ar- 
ranging the camp-stools and putting things to rights, 
when the little visitor presented herself. The General 
seized her, placed her upon his knee, and had a long 
talk with her. This incident she often referred to with 
pleasure. 

During the Presidency of Washington, Miss Kemper 
became prominent in the circles of the republican court 



262 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

for her great beauty and the fascination of her manners. 
In the Capital she attracted much attention, and was a 
welcome guest at Mrs. Washington's at all times. She 
was on a visit at the house of her uncle, the celebrated 
Dr. David Jackson, of Philadelphia, when she first met 
Hon. Samuel Sitgreaves, a member of Congress, in the 
President's drawing-room. Love at first sight ensued, 
and she was married to him in June, 1796. 

Once hearing a sermon on the birthday of Washing- 
ton, Mrs. Sitgreaves described a birthnight-ball she had 
attended, in company with him and Mrs. Washington, 
just fifty-six years before ; Mrs. Washington appearing 
dressed in black velvet trimmed with silver lace, and 
Mrs. Knox in green velvet decorated with gold. She 
and Eleanor Custis had their hair arranged by the hair- 
dresser, long previous to the fete, and then had a frolic 
in the garden, on the afternoon preceding it ; she pluck- 
ing snow-balls from the tree and showering the blossoms 
over her friend's head. They stuck fast, and formed a 
most admired addition to the head-dress in the evening. 

On the adjournment of Congress, Mrs. Sitgreaves 
accompanied her husband to Easton, Pennsylvania. He 
was appointed Minister to England during the Presi- 
dency of the elder Adams, and was in Congress several 
years. Their home was in Easton till the death of Mrs. 
Sitgreaves, who long survived her husband, and died in 
November, 1864. She retained her faculties unimpaired 
and clear to the last moment of her existence, and her 
firm faith in her Redeemer was a consolation to her 



MRS. WALLACE. 263 

bereaved children, and a bright example to all who 
knew her, as had been her life of active Christian duty 
and cheerful benevolence. The church was her beloved, 
and she was always ready for every good word and 
work. 

Mrs. Susan Wallace, the mother of Horace Binney 
Wallace, was eminent for the noble grace of her deport- 
ment. Her mother, Mrs. Mary Binney, lived opposite 
Washington's house in Philadelphia. The daughter of 
Mrs. Wallace, who married John Bradford Wallace, died 
in 1849. The Rev. Herman Hooker said of her, " No 
praise befits the character of such a person but a truthful 
and grateful mention of her virtues. She was a model 
of a woman." She was born February 22d, 1Y78, and 
was just entering society in the last years of Washing- 
ton's administration. Her husband was the nephew of 
Mr. Bradford, the second Attorney General of the Uni 
ted States. - 



264 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 



XII. 



One of the most distinguished and charming women 
who gave a character of elegance and high-bred grace to 
the best circle in Washington society, was the wife of 
General Van Ness. She was the daughter of David 
Burns, a gentleman of excellent family, who inherited a 
fine estate near the Potomac, in the District of Colum- 
bia, and held the office of civil magistrate while attend- 
ing to the interests of his large plantation. He married 
Miss White, a young lady also of highly respectable 
family. Marcia was their only daughter, born on the 
plantation now embraced within the limits of the city of 
Washington. She grew up a lovely girl, light as a fairy 
in form, with a face of innocent beauty, and manners so 
arch and engaging that all who saw her were attracted. 
She was placed at school in Georgetown, where she re- 
ceived a good education, with the accomplishments 
necessary for a young lady entitled to move in the most 
refined society. After completing her studies, she was 
sent for "finishing" to Baltimore, where she lived in the 
family of Luther Martin, then at the height of his repu- 
tation as the most eminent jurist and advocate in Mary- 
land. He was a friend of Mr. Burns. Marcia had 
formed an intimacy with his daughter at the George- 



MRS. VAN NESS. 265 

town boarding-school, and the two enjoyed the "best 
opportunities and were well pleased to go into society 
together. The conversation of Martin often turned on 
public affairs, and his enthusiasm kindled in the young 
girl the patriotic and philanthropic spirit which impelled 
her in after life to an earnest interest in public matters. 
Her brother at the same time studied law with Martin. 
This brother died young. Miss Burns returned to her 
home about 1799 or 1800, not long before her father's 
death. From him she inherited a large fortune. 

The seat of National Government was removed to 
"Washington in May, 1802. Miss Burns was much 
sought after and admired for her personal charms and 
intellectual acquirements, as well as for the endowment 
of wealth ; she was, indeed, from the first, one of the 
most prominent belles of Washington, and received at 
her father's house all who were distinguished in the po- 
litical as well as the fashionable world throughout the 
United States. Mrs. Madison was one of her most inti- 
mate friends. At the age of twenty she married Hon. 
John P. Yan Ness, member of Congress for New York, 
a gentleman of ancient and distinguished family. He 
became a resident of Washington, and their home was 
one of the most brilliant and agreeable in the Capital. 
Youthful as she was, the beautiful and accomplished 
Mrs. Yan Ness was regarded as a leader in the most 
select circle, and as a model of all that is charming in 
the character of a lady. The principal men in the 
national councils, and those who had gained distinction 

12 



266 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

in political life, did homage to her varied powers, her 
grace and dignity, and the charms of her sprightly con- 
versation. 

Her splendid house on Mansion Square was surround- 
ed by beautiful shrubs and evergreens, with flowers of 
the choicest variety ; the woodbine and multiflora creep- 
ing up the sides of the building. This was her residence 
after quitting the cottage in which she had been born 
and passed her childhood. This house was noted for 
elegant hospitality, in small social gatherings as well as 
in more splendid entertainments, and the success of Mrs. 
Yan Ness in drawing around her the refined and culti- 
vated, superior to the frivolous butterflies of fashion > 
made it a most desirable thing to have the pleasure of 
her acquaintance. Chief Justice Marshall, Henry Clay, 
President Monroe, General Jackson, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. 
McDuffie, Daniel "Webster, Mr. Hayne, and many other 
noted celebrities, were on intimate terms with General 
Yan Ness, and were frequent visitors; the foreign min- 
isters also sought the society of a lady whose receptions 
were so agreeable, and whose social gifts were so capti- 
vating. In the bloom of her loveliness Mrs. Yan Ness 
was remarkable for a complexion of dazzling fairness. 
Her features were regular, and her face was bright with 
expression ; her smile was most bewitching ; her eyes, a 
soft hazel, were full of lire ; her form, though she was 
not tall, was exquisite in symmetry. The great charm 
of her presence was her perfect ease and refinement of 
manner ; a gracious affability combined with dignity 



MRS. VAN NESS. 267 

that bespoke true elevation of mind. She was full of 
vivacity in conversation, possessing a rich fund of humor, 
and her poetic fancy gave a coloring to her thoughts and 
opinions. This taste for poetry led her now and then to 
metrical effusions ; and her friends were accustomed to 
be facetious about her family name of Burns, averring 
that she was of kin to the poet ; though probably no re- 
lationship existed. 

The only daughter of Mrs. Yan Ness — Ann Elber- 
tina — was a lovely girl, and became, in her early bloom, 
the ornament and delight of society. She was not only 
the darling, but the intelligent companion of her mother, 
whose delight it was to teach her, and impress her mind 
with the solemn truths of religion. The two entered 
into each other's feelings with a sympathy not often seen 
even in that near and sacred relation. Mrs. Yan Ness 
was not satisfied, in the midst of her social triumphs, 
with dominion over the world of fashion. She felt herself 
called upon to act a higher and nobler part in society 
than that of a minister to its fleeting pleasures. The 
charity which in her always abounded, had its root in 
that true love of God which leads to good works. Her 
piety was enlightened by the faith in the Redeemer that 
brings every thought into subjection to the obedience of 
Christ, and produces fruits such as He approved. Her 
influence was always genial ; her example ever noble 
and elevating ; her friendships were true and warm ; 
but these were not enough to fill her ideal of Christian 
duty. The sympathy that takes in humanity, the be- 



268 QUEENS OF AMEKICAN SOCIETY. 

nevolence that springs from earnest religious feeling, the 
beneficence that spreads its fostering care over all who 
need it, without respect of persons — the deep humility 
that disclaims all thought of merit — grew in her heart, 
regenerated as it was by the Holy Spirit. She became 
a ministering angel to the sick and suffering ; the poor 
sought her aid and received both counsel and assistance ; 
she found her greatest delight in comforting the afflicted. 

" Distress but gleaned from others' store, 
From hers it reaped a plenteous dole." 

Her good deeds were unostentatious — her gentle and 
loving ministrations unnoticed, while they brought balm 
to many a wounded heart. Prayer and thankfulness 
were continual in her household, and she took part in 
social prayers for the diffusion of the Gospel. Her taste 
for the beautiful in nature and the arts was sublimed by 
her devotion to the good. 

Her beloved daughter, so like her in all Christian 
graces, returned in 1S20 from school in Philadelphia, 
and two years afterwards was married to Arthur Mid- 
dleton, of South Carolina. The young wife went to 
visit her husband's friends in his native State, and then 
returned to Washington. She died of malignant fever 
shortly afterwards, giving birth to a child, who also 
perished. 

Mrs. Yan Ness never recovered from the shock of 
this bereavement. From the day of her daughter's 
death she bade adieu to the gay world, and mingled no 






MRS. VAN NESS. 269 

more in fashionable assemblages. She selected a retired 
room in the cottage where her parents lived and died, 
and would often go to that venerated place for medita- 
tion. The allurements of society could no longer draw 
her from the remembrance of the happiness she had lost. 
But her faith was too firmly grounded to permit the 
Christian virtues that had taken root in her character to 
languish and die. The fountain of her affections con- 
tinued to pour forth a stream of charity. She became 
resigned to the will of God, and sought consolation in a 
more earnest devotion to her duties, both as a wife and 
as the benefactress of the destitute. It was owing to her 
persevering efforts that an institution was established 
which became an honor to the Capital — the Washington 
City Orphan Asylum. With her husband's concurrence 
she bestowed on it four thousand dollars, besides many 
small contributions from time to time, and by her inde- 
fatigable exertions with friends in Congress she obtained 
an act of incorporation, and a donation of ten thousand 
dollars for its permanent support. She also gave direc- 
tions that a legacy of a thousand dollars should be given 
to the institution after her death. 

Mrs. Tan Ness was thus the founder of the asylum, 
though she always acknowledged the efficient co-opera- 
tion of other benevolent ladies. During the administra- 
tion of President Madison, Mrs. Madison was First 
Directress of the Institution ; but after her departure, 
Mrs. Van Ness was induced to accept the office, which 
she held till her death. She was truly a mother to the 



270 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

children thus saved, sheltered, and trained for heaven 
by her instrumentality. She did not wait for those 
" pelted by the pitiless storm " of adversity to present 
themselves at her door ; night and day she sought 
them out. 

The grave of her daughter was a holy place to her, 
and she resolved to make an offering there. She built 
the Alms House beside it. 

The portrait of Mrs. Yan Ness is still in the Asylum. 
She is represented sitting, with three little girls clinging 
to her as if claiming protection ; one with its head in 
her lap. 

The closing scenes of her life evinced the power of 
religion to give peace and joy in the hour of death. 
Her disregard of self was apparent, even in her last 
moments, and in her last words to her husband kneeling 
beside her. After a long and painful illness, she died 
on the 9th of September, 1832, at the age of fifty. 

She was the first American woman buried with pub- 
lic honors. The funeral took place on the day following 
her death, and was attended by a large concourse of 
people. The mahogany coffin, inclosing a leaden one, 
was covered with black velvet without decoration. On 
the breast was a silver plate, engraved with the date of 
her birth, marriage, and death. As the procession 
began to move, General Van Ness, who was Mayor of 
Washington, received from a committee of the citizens 
a silver plate inscribed : " The citizens of Washington, 
in testimony of their veneration for departed worth, 



MRS. VAN NESS. 271 

dedicate this plate to the memory of Marcia Yan Ness, 
the excellent consort of J. P. Yan Ness. If piety, 
charity, high principle, and exalted worth, could have 
averted the shafts of fate, she would still have remained 
among us, a bright example of every virtue. The hand 
of death has removed her to a purer and happier state 
of existence ; and while we lament her loss, let us endea- 
vor to emulate her virtues." Then followed dates ; and 
the gift was accompanied by a copy of the preamble and 
resolutions. 

At the gate of the burial-place the little girls of the 
Orphan Asylum stood in lines, the procession passing 
between them. The coffin was placed at the door of the 
vault, and the children came forward and strewed the 
bier with branches of weeping-willow, singing a hymn 
of farewell. The funeral service was then read, and the 
deceased was laid beside her buried child. 

The Board of Managers of the "Washington City 
Orphan Asylum passed resolutions expressive of deep 
and heartfelt sympathy, and testifying respect for the 
character of the departed. Similar condolences were 
offered by the Association of Beneficence of Trinity 
Church. Few ladies, indeed, have ever occupied a 
larger field of usefulness, or been more devotedly en- 
gaged for many years in those labors of love which the 
Saviour enjoined on his followers as the evidence of 
their discipleship. 



272 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

One of the intimate friends of Mrs. Yan Ness, and 
one called by her " the most popular woman who was 
ever in Washington," was the wife of Levi Woodbury, 
Secretary of the Navy during Jackson's administration. 
She was remarkable for her amiable temper and digni- 
fied elegance of deportment. The officers who came to 
her house on business were treated by her with uniform 
courtesy and kindness ; the midshipmen with the same 
urbanity as the commodore. Mrs. Woodbury was the 
daughter of Hon. Asa Clapp, of Portland, the most 
wealthy man at that time in the State of Maine. His 
wife was Miss Quincy. Their daughter had the advan- 
tage of an excellent education, and was fitted to adorn a 
high position. 



Mrs. Louis McLane is mentioned in the letters of 
| Washington Irving, and in other publications, as promi- 
nent in fashionable society in Washington. She was the 
eldest daughter of Robert Milligan, and in 1812 married 
the son of Allan McLane, of Delaware. In 1817 he 
was elected member of Congress from that State ; and 
his liberal, patriotic opinions made him the steady 
advocate of internal improvements and a just economy. 
The pendency of the celebrated Missouri question, and 
the legislation in reference to the admission of that 
State, gave extraordinary interest to that year's Con- 
gress ; for a new discussion arose on a much agitated 
subject. Mr. McLane thought it a member's duty to 
vote according to his own judgment, without regard to 



MRS. McLANE — MRS. LIVINGSTON. 273 

instructions; and his wife approved his course'. He 
took his seat as United States Senator in December, 
1827 ; and was sent by President Jackson Minister to 
England in May,^1829. His diplomatic talents found 
aid in the courtesy, grace, and dignity of his accom- 
plished wife. In 1831 McLane returned to take charge 
of the Treasury Department in Jackson's second Cabinet ; 
and in two years he was called to superintend the 
Department of State. 

While McLane was in England, Washington Irving 
was entertained at his house. His respect and admira- 
tion for Mrs. McLane were manifest in his conversation 
as well as his letters. One of her daughters married 
General Joseph Johnson; another the grandson of 
Alexander Hamilton. 



Washington Irving mentioned a Miss Barney — -the 
sietw-of "Beau Barney" — as a belle in Washington, 
and very graceful in her deportment. 

Miss Butt, of Norfolk, the author of " Anti-Fascina- 
tion " — published in reply to " Uncle Tom's Cabin " — 
was highly praised in the Norfolk journals as having 
maintained, at Washington, " the fame of the ' Old 
Dominion' for charms and accomplishments, and for 
beautiful women beyond reproach." 



Edward Livingston married, in June, 1805, the 
young widow of a Jamaica agent, Louise Moreau de 
Lassy, born Davezac de Castera. Her beauty was 



12* 



271- QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

described as extraordinary, and to wondrous graces of 
person she added a brilliant intellect. Livingston's first 
wife was Mary McEvers. Eliza McEvers became the 
wife of John R. Livingston. 

In 1834, when Edward Livingston, who had been 
Secretary of State, accepted the appointment of Minis- 
ter to France, he was accompanied by Mrs. Livingston 
and his daughter. Mrs. Livingston was born in one of 
the West India Islands ; her family, driven from home 
by the horrors of revolution, came to New Orleans. 
Her brother was Minister from the United States to the 
Hague. She was possessed of rare intellectual attain- 
ments as well as personal attractions ; her manners were 
gentle and refined, and she was brilliant in conversation, 
for her well-stored mind and extensive observation fitted 
her to shine among the cultivated. Her daughter, Cora, 
inherited her mental qualities and her loveliness. She 
was in "Washington with her parents when it was men- 
aced by the British troops, in 1814. Amid the hurly- 
burly, says Parton in his Life of Jackson, "the grim 
and steadfast warrior found time to caress and love the 
little girl who sat on his lap and played around his high 
splashed boots at head-quarters while he was busy. For 
her sake he retained one of his horses from the public 
service." 

When Edward Livingston did not return to New 
Orleans, Major Mitchell, the highest English officer in 
rank among the prisoners, was held as a hostage for the 
safety of the Americans in the British fleet. One day 



MRS. BARTON. 275 

General Jackson, calling on Mrs. Livingston, found her 
in great, anxiety about her husband. Cora, the little 
girl, whimpered, " When are you going to bring nie 
back my father, General? The British will kill him." 
The mighty man of war stooped, and patting the little 
one on the head, said, " Don't cry, my child ; if the 
British touch so much as a hair of your father's head, I'll 
hang Mitchell." X 

Miss Livingston was famous as the belle of Washing- ) 
ton in the time of General Jackson's administration. ' 
She was married to Thomas Barton, who went as Secre- 
tary of Legation on the mission to France. The party ) 
traveled through Switzerland and Germany. At Llei- 
delberg, Professor Mittermaier, the voluminous and en- 
lightened advocate of jurisprudential reforms (called the 
German Brougham) received the card of Mr. Livingston, 
with whom he had corresponded. He came to the hotel, 
and, on seeing him, rushed into his arms, clasped and 
kissed him, to the surprise and amusement of the ladies. 

When Mr. Livingston returned home, Mr. Barton 
was left as Charge des Affaires. He came to the United 
States in 1836, bringing water for the fire between Jack- 
son and Louis Philippe. 

Mrs. Barton continued to reside at Montgomery 
Place after her mother's death, in 1860. Mr. Living- 
ston's rooms were kept in the same state as when occu- 
pied by him. She has for many years resided in New 
York. 

A lady thus described an evening scene at the 



276 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Executive mansion in the early part of Jackson's 
administration. " The large parlor was scantily fur- 
nished ; there was light from the chandelier, and a 
blazing fire in the grate; four or five ladies sewing 
round it ; Mrs. Donelson, Mrs. Andrew Jackson, Mrs. 
Edward Livingston, &c. Five or six children were 
playing about, regardless of documents or work-baskets. 
At the farther end of the room sat the President in his 
arm-chair, wearing a long loose coat, and smoking a 
long reed pipe, with bowl of red clay; combining the 
dignity of the patriarch, monarch, and Indian chief. 
Just behind was Edward Livingston, the Secretary of 
State, reading him a dispatch from the French Minister 
for Foreign Affairs. The ladies glance admiringly now 
and then at the President, who listens, waving his pipe 
towards the children when they become too boisterous." 



Brief mention of the wife of the military President 
may not be inappropriate, though she was no social 
leader. Rachel Donelson was a dark-eyed and dark- 
haired brunette ; a gay, handsome, and spirited lass " as 
ever danced on the deck of a fiat-boat, or took the helm 
while her father took a shot at the Indians." Her first 
husband was Lewis Robards, of Kentucky. She married 
Jackson in 1794. The last marriage was a happy one, 
their affection being elevated by mutual respect, sympa- 
thy, and unselfish kindness. Mrs. Jackson, in her hus- 
band's absence, took care of the farm and a hundred and 



MRS. ANDREW JACKSON. 277 

fifty slaves. She had a wonderful memory for anecdotes 
and tales of pioneer adventure, and had not lost her 
merry disposition or her liking for old-fashioned dances. 
She was short and full in person, while the General was 
tall and gaunt. Having no children, they adopted 
nephews. The biographer of Jackson pays Mrs. Jackson 
a tribute of praise, as exemplary in all relations, with a 
warm, true, and excellent heart, frank and cordial man- 
ners ; liberal in hospitality and overflowing with kind- 
ness. "Aunt Rachel" was loved by all the young 
people, and was " the stay and solace of her husband's 
life." At a ball given in New Orleans, after the peace 
of 1815, she mingled in the dance with the merriest. 
She wrote graphic letters descriptive of a journey to 
Florida, and a residence at Pensacola. A new "Her- 
mitage" was built for her abode, where hung her por- 
trait in white satin, topaz jewelry, low corsage, and 
short sleeves. She came to Washington with her hus- 
band, traveling with coach and four, in the autumn of 
1824. Her health was in a precarious state. In 1828, 
she revisited JSTew Orleans. Her reception was a splen- 
did one ; a brilliant circle was assembled to wait upon 
her, and fetes were given in her honor. The huge old 
family coach, which afterwards was among the curiosi- 
ties of the Hermitage, was there presented to her by the 
General ; and the set of topaz seen in her portrait, by 
the ladies of the city. 

When Mrs. Jackson "came to the White House, the 
ladies of Washington took it on themselves to arrange 



278 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

the dresses suitable for her. The good lady, with her 
homely bearing and country manners, was both maligned 
and caricatured by the anti-Jackson party. One picture 
represented her perched on a table, with Mrs. Livingston 
lacing her stays. The General, however, was blind to 
any want of fashionable elegance, and always put honor 
on his " bonny brown wife." * 



The high moral tone and pure taste prevalent in 
Washington society at this period was illustrated by the 
refusal of the ladies to visit or receive one whose con- 
duct had been open to reproach, though influence was 
used in official quarters to induce them to relent. The 
President himself contended in vain with their determi- 
nation^ 



* See Partem' s Life of Jackson. 

•j- Mr. Parton, in his Life of Jackson, gives an account of the origin 
of the scandal about Mrs. Eaton. William O'Neal kept a tavern in Wash- 
ington, at which several Senators and officers boarded. Major Eaton 
came first, in 1818, and stayed there ten winters; Andrew Jackson also 
was a regular boarder. O'Neal had a pretty daughter, lively, saucy, and 
fall of repartee. She was married to Purser Timberlake; but in 1828 
came the news of his death. There had been some scandal in regard to 
her and Eaton. Then the Major consulted Jackson as to the propriety of 
his wedding the pretty widow. "Why, yes, Major," replied the soldier; 
"if you love the woman, and she will have you, marry her by all mean---. 
Your marrying her will disprove these charges and restore Peg's good 
name." The marriage took place in 18^9. 

No sooner was it whispered that Eaton was to be a member of Presi- 
dent Jackson's new Cabinet than the ladies at the head of society became 
alarmed. ."Peg O'Neal" the wife of a Cabinet minister, would be, as 
such, entitled to admission into their sacred circle. Horrible! General 



PURE TASTE IN SOCIETY. 279 

Jackson was remonstrated with by a reverend gentleman in writing, the 
letter being dated March, 1829. The President, in his reply, repelled the 
idea of judging his friend by common rumor ; he believed Mrs. Eaton an 
innocent and injured woman. The story was fully investigated by Jack- 
son's order ; certificates of Mrs. Eaton's good character were produced, 
and a mass of confidential manuscript was laid open. The President 
brought to the cause the fire and resolution he had shown many years 
before in silencing the slanders concerning Mrs. Jackson. The matter 
got mixed up in politics ; and suitors for Presidential favor were advised 
to attend Mrs. Eaton's receptions. She was beautiful, and full of grace- 
ful vivacity. Gentlemen were quite willing to visit her ; but the lady 
leaders of society refused to be convinced of her worth by the President's 
showing the charges against her unsupported by testimony. They ob- 
stinately declined receiving her. Mrs. Calhoun would not. though Mrs. 
Eaton called in company with the Vice-President ; Mrs. Berrien would 
not, though Mr. Berrien had been one of the guests at her wedding ; Mrs. 
Branch would not, though Mr. Branch had been taken into the Cabinet 
at Major Eaton's suggestion ; Mrs. Ingham would not, though gossip had 
not spared her fame. The wives of foreign ministers followed suit in 
their refusal. Mrs. Donelson, the mistress of the White House, though 
compelled to receive Mrs. Eaton, would not visit her. ''Any thing, uncle, 
I will do for you; but I cannot call on Mrs. Eaton." — "Then go back to 
Tennessee, my dear." She went ; her husband gave up his post of pri- 
vate secretary and went too; both returning in a month. Thus was the 
indomitable will of Andrew Jackson in collision with the will of woman. 
Three weeks after the inauguration came Mr. Van Buren as Secretary of 
State. He was a widower; had no daughters; and he was very happy 
to call upon and receive Mrs. Eaton, and even to make parties for her. 
For more than two years society was divided into hostile parties. " Bel- 
lona" was the sobriquet given to Mrs. Eaton in published letters. Baron 
Krudener, the Russian Minister, and Vaughan, the British, both bach- 
elors, got up entertainments to keep " Bellona" afloat, and she was led by 
the British Minister to the head of his table. Mr. Van Buren appealed to 
Mrs. Huygens, the wife of the Minister from Holland, to be favored with 
an introduction to " the lovely and accomplished Mrs. Eaton." The lady 
avoided the advance, but finally accepted with reluctance, one evening. 
Major Eaton's arm to supper. Finding Mrs. Eaton seated at the head of 
the table, beside her own chair, Mrs. Huygens turned to her husband, 
took his arm, and walked out of the room. It was said that President 
Jackson threatened, for this, to send the Minister home to Holland. 

Another similar failure occurred at a grand dinner, when Mr. Vaughan 



280 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

led Mrs. Eaton to the head of the table — the President allowing the guests 
to see how much he had her recognition at heart. Nothing could move 
the inflexible ladies of "Washington. Even the Cabinet became divided 
on the subject ; while Jackson threw the whole energy of his nature into 
the lady's defence. He was like a roaring lion at any attack upon her. 
Eaton finally had a quarrel with his old chief, and they never became 
reconciled* — Parton's Life of Jackson. 



MRS. J. J. ROOSEVELT. 281 



XIII. 

The niece of Mrs. Yan Ness, of Washington, was 
celebrated as a belle universally admired in the society 
of the Capital in the winter of 1828-9. She was Miss 
Cornelia Yan Ness, the daughter of Cornelius P. Yan 
Ness, the eminent Chief Justice and Governor of Yer- 
mont. 

Mrs. C. P. Yan Ness occupied a position not less dis- 
tinguished than that of her sister-in-law. Her admirable 
performance of the duties pertaining to her position as 
the wife of the Governor of Yermont, added an elevating 
social influence to his political supremacy. Her house 
was the resort of distinguished travelers from every part 
of the United States as well as Europe ; her hospitality 
was known throughout the State ; and few, who had any 
claim to attention, passed through the beautiful village 
of Burlington, on their way to Boston or Canada, with- 
out stopping at the Governor's residence to pay their 
respects. Mrs. Yan Ness was noted for personal beauty 
of a commanding order, as well as for uncommon powers 
of intellect, and attainments that in any time or country 
would be remarkable. 

Her talents in conversation were improved by exten- 
sive reading ; for she possessed a wonderful tenacity of 



282 QUEENS OF AMEEICAIST SOCIETY. 

memory, with a mental power of transmutation that 
enriches the mind with the products of what it receives. 
With these endowments, added to the most graceful cour- 
tesy, accomplished manners, and kindness of heart, it was 
not surprising that Mrs. Yan Ness should hold an exalted 
place in the esteem of all her acquaintances. When 
General La Fayette revisited the United States, it was 
her part and privilege, as the Governor's wife, to receive 
and entertain him at her house. She accompanied her 
husband to Spain when he became Envoy Extraordinary 
at the Court of Madrid. Here a new sphere opened for 
the exercise of her talents, and new duties devolved upon 
her. At the christening of the present Queen of Spain, 
in the Royal Chapel, she represented America. When 
she came in, in a State procession, with other ladies of 
the corps diplomatique, her commanding figure, the dig- 
nity of her carnage, and the beauty of her face, caused 
many to fancy that her country must be remarkable for 
its lovely women. 

Miss Cornelia Yan Ness, when a very young girl, left 
her home in Yermont to visit her uncle, General Yan 
Ness, in the Federal city. At that time there were 
many young ladies in society who had brilliant preten- 
sions to belleship ; but Miss Yan Ness, on her first ap- 
pearance, was acknowledged to possess superior claims, 
not only on account of her uncle's high position and the 
attraction of her aunt's fascinating social qualities, but 
for her own exquisite beauty, grace, sprightliness, and 
elegance of style, with accomplishments rare in one so 



MRS. J. J. ROOSEVELT. 283 

youthful. Her admirers were not destined long to enjoy 
her society ; in the autumn of 1829 she was taken to 
Spain by her father, who had been appointed Minister 
by General Jackson. The ambassador had his residence 
in Madrid, and his family was at once received into the 
most select of the court circles and of the society of the 
Capital. Immediately on her arrival, Miss Yan Ness 
was introduced to the Duchess of Beneventi, one of the 
principal ladies of the court. The Duchess was charmed 
with her young American friend, and took pleasure in 
presenting her to the exclusive circles of the Spanish 
grandees ; a favor seldom accorded to foreigners. The 
young lady was, of course, admitted to all State recep- 
tions and to the parties of the foreign Ministers, in vir- 
tue of her father's official position ; but the old grandees 
of Spain are jealously exclusive, tenacious of their tra- 
ditional grandeur, and averse to receiving into their 
social circles the most honored of any other nation. The 
distinction shown to the fair American was, therefore, a 
rare and valued one. Miss Yan Ness had equal good 
fortune in being made acquainted with the persons of 
note in Madrid, and in being shown all that was recher- 
che and distinguished in metropolitan society. Thus 
her time passed most agreeably, and the incidents of 
almost every day were treasured in memory as improv- 
ing recollections. 

The Marchioness de Casa Yrujo was an American ; 
a daughter of Governor Mclvean, of Philadelphia. She 
had married the Marquis when he was Spanish Minister 



284 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

to the United States. The Marchioness had been in her 
day a celebrated beauty, and was, even at that time, an 
elegant looking woman. She possessed wealth, and 
lived in superb style, in Madrid, with her son and 
daughter. She had known the ambassador, Mr. Yan 
Ness, in America ; and both were happy to renew the 
acquaintance formed in a far distant country, to which 
both belonged by birth. This noble lady was well 
pleased to find a youthful countrywoman so accom- 
plished and lovely in the daughter of her friend ; one 
whom she could present to her friends with pride and 
satisfaction, and who would do credit to her regard and 
companionship. Miss Yan Ness could speak both French 
and Spanish with fluency, and with two chaperones like 
the Duchess of Beneventi and the Marchioness, asso- 
ciating familiarly with those with whom they made her 
acquainted, she speedily found herself at home in Ma- 
drid. She was presented to Queen Christina, who made 
her entrance into the Capital, as the third wife of Fer- 
dinand YII., the day after Governor Yan Ness and his 
family arrived. The Queen received the young girl 
most kindly, and was particularly pleased with her ; the 
sovereign honored her with special marks of favor, and, 
indeed, made quite a pet of her ; showing a regard no 
American lady had ever yet won from a monarch of 
Spain. This distinguishing notice of royalty, of course, 
made the beautiful daughter of the western Republic 
" the observed of all observers." Her album contains 
numerous tribntes in Spanish and French poetry signed 



MRS. J. J. ROOSEVELT. 285 

by names of world-wide distinction. Fontaney sighs in 
verse — " Oh, that my eye was in itself a soul !" and 
there are records from Forcinet at Paris, Charles JSTodier, 
Marie Nodier, Menessier, and many others. A Spanish 
poet, Don Manuel Breton de los Herreros, addressed to 
her some impromptu stanzas which have great spirit and 
beauty in the original. 

During twenty months Miss Yan Ness remained in 
Spain, partaking of all the gayeties and delights of the 
Capital, assisting at the court festivals, pleased with every 
thing she saw, and charming those who knew her. The 
last fete at which she was present was the baptism of the 
present Queen of Spain ; a most interesting ceremony, 
celebrated with brilliant festivities. This appropriately 
crowned the series of stately pageants and entertainments, 
in which our fair subject had the rare privilege of min- 
gling with noble and royal personages, honored as one of 
themselves, and endowed with grace and loveliness such 
as nature seldom bestows even on the favorites of for- 
tune. After this she bade farewell to these bright 
scenes, and went to Paris. Here, in May, 1831, at the 
house of Mr. Rives — in the presence of many distin- 
guished friends, among them General La Fayette, who 
gave away the bride — she gave her hand to Mr. James 
J. Roosevelt, of New York. 

When La Fayette revisited the United States, Miss 
Yan Ness — then at Mrs. Willard's school in Troy — had 
been selected, with Miss Cass, to present to the General 
the poetical tribute Mrs. Willard had written for the 



286 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

occasion. These daughters of the governors of Vermont 
and Michigan were chosen as representative young 
ladies for the office. La Fayette had never forgotten 
that pleasant incident, and thus agreeable recollections 
of her girlhood were mingled with his esteem for the 
charming maiden he bestowed in marriage. He invited 
her and her husband to visit him at his country home — 
La Grange. They passed several days there, welcomed 
with every mark of friendship by the General and his 
family. 

In September, 1831, Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt returned 
to the United States, taking up their residence in New 
York. On her return, Mrs. Roosevelt received a letter 
from the Marchioness de Casa Yrujo, giving her the 
gossip of their circle in Madrid : " The Duke of Ossuna," 
she says, " is rather triste on account of the absence of 
his friends. I had the pleasure of seeing your mamma a 
day or two ago ; she looks very thin, and appears to feel 
the separation from you very severely. She is desirous 
of returning to America. It appears to me it would be 
for the happiness of all your family to return." 

In a letter from La Fayette, dated July 25, 1831, he 
says : — 

" In case you were still on this side of the Atlantic, I may 
assure you that Prince de Talleyrand will highly value the pleasure 
of your and Mr. Roosevelt's acquaintance; and should you think it 
requisite, these very lines, although addressed to you, would he 
considered as an introduction to him. But I think they will not 
be received before you have had the happiness to find yourself again 



MRS. J. J. ROOSEVELT.. 287 

in the great and good city of New York. Remember me to your 
sister, husband, and brother-in-law, and believe me forever, 

" Your affectionate friend, 

"La Fayette." 

In 1840, Mr. Roosevelt was elected Member of Con- 
gress, and took his seat in the following year, when his 
family accompanied him to "Washington. During the 
winters of 1842-43, Mrs. Roosevelt remained in that 
city, her husband having taken a house. They were 
very prominent in society, and were among the first to 
introduce the new fashion of entertaining. 

Mr. Ingersoll, giving an account of social matters in 
Washington at this time, wrote : — 

" Washington's administration, with Jefferson's and Hamilton's 
concurrence, established some forms deemed indispensable for the 
new republican government, one of which was that the President 
was never to visit any one but the Vice President, nor ever to dine 
out. But Acting President Tyler sometimes, I believe, did both. 
When I first came to Washington, most of the hospitalities were 
done by the President and the several foreign ministers. But a 
great change has since taken place; and now many members of 
Congress give more and more luxurious entertainments than any 
of the foreigners who used to set the fashion. In 1842, one of the 
city of New York members, Mr. James J. Eoosevelt, and his 
beautiful and accomplished wife, who had spent many years in 
Madrid when her father was American minister there, were among 
the earliest and most effective in that social revolution, by frequent 
and very agreeable dinner and evening parties. At one of these, 
where President Tyler was a gay and unassuming guest, J had the 
honor to play a rubber of whist with him, Lord Ashburton, and 
ex-speaker, and ex-minister to England, &c." 

One literary curiosity preserved in Mrs. Roosevelt's 



238 • QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

•/ 

album is an original impromptu poetical conceit, written 
by Yictor Hugo, with his own hand, in 1831 : — 

" La Poesie, inspire lorsque la terre ignore, 
Eessemble a les grands monts que la nouvelle aurore 

Dore avant nous a son reveille, 
Et qui, longtemps vainqueur de l'ombre, 
Gardent jusque dans la nuit sombre 
Le dernier rayon du soleil. 

"Victor H." 

A translation was written below by Mr. Adams-: — 

" The bard is like yon hilltop high, 
At sunrise shining to the sky, 

While darkness reigns below; 
And when shall come the shades of night, 
Still on that hilltop's lofty height 

The sun's last beams shall glow. 

"John Quincy Adams." 
July, 1842. 

Another distinguished poet gave a more liberal 
version : — 

" Moorland and meadow slumber 
In deepest darkness now, 
But the sunrise hues that wakened day 
Smile on that mountain's brow. 

" And when eve's mists are shrouding 
Moorland and meadow fast, 
That mountain greets day's sunset light, 
Her loveliest and her last. 

"And thus the god-taught minstrel, 
Above a land untaught, 
Smiles lovely in the smiles of heaven 
From his hilltops of thought. 

"Fitz Greene Halleck." 

The same treasury of art and poetry contains an 



MES. J. J. ROOSEVELT. 2S9 

original drawing by Federieo di Madrazo, of Apollo with 
his lute ; and a drawing of our Saviour wearing His 
crown of thorns, by Yincentio Lopez, the great historical 
painter. There is also an extract in "Washington Irving' s 
delicate handwriting, from his unpublished essay on the 
" Self Dependence of an American," written in London, 
July, 1831 ; with some relics of Washington and Jeffer- 
son ; a sonnet to La Fayette, in Mrs. Madison's quaint, 
old-fashioned hand ; and the following sentiment : — 

" The enduring record of departed goodness dwells in the soul, 
like the writing that is inscribed upon adamant. 

"D. P. Madison." 

Mr. Clay wrote to Mrs. Roosevelt : — 

"My Dear Madam: 

''You did me the honor to express a wish to possess some 
written memorial of me. I take pleasure in complying with it, and 
regret that I have not something to offer more worthy of your 
acceptance. But nothing could more truly testify than I now do, 
to the respect and esteem cherished for you by both Mrs. Clay and 
" Your faithful friend 

" And obedient servant, 

"H. Clay." 

There is also a curious autograph of the Prince de 
Signe, inviting Mr. Roosevelt to visit him. 

Many letters were written to Mrs. Roosevelt by 
statesmen of the greatest distinction in American politi- 
cal life, touching affairs of national importance ; but 
publicity cannot be given to what Mas written without 
any idea of publication. They serve to show the high 
personal esteem entertained for the lady by those friends, 

13 



290 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

and their respect for her opinions and judgment in mat- 
ters wherein a woman is not usually supposed able to 
decide. Some of the letters were sent to her while she 
was in Paris, on the eve of a contested nomination for 
the Presidency ; and few ladies have been let so deeply 
into party secrets. One from Sir John Rowland Eustace, 
in 1854, showed how much he was indebted for his recep- 
tion in America to the civilities of Mrs. Roosevelt. He 
wrote : — 

"I recall to mind with very great pleasure ray two very agree- 
able trips from Canada into the United States, into which I was 
ushered by you and Mr. Roosevelt; for, from the moment of my 
having the good fortune to make your acquaintance, in the steam- 
boat upon Lake Champlaiu, every thing was to me quite ' couleur 
de rose; 11 and when, after a very agreeable journey, you and Mr. 
Roosevelt so kindly presented me to your friends at Saratoga, I 
really felt quite as much at home as I should have done at any 
watering-place in England. And after that auspicious introduction, 
I never met with any thing in the United States but the greatest 
civility and kindness, and the most interesting scenery, and the 
most interesting people I have ever met. Indeed, I should like to 
revisit America very much ; and I think I should have gone to 
your exhibition at New York last summer, but that we also had 
one in Dublin, where as an Irishman I was bound to attend. I 
was in hopes of seeing you and Mr. Roosevelt again in London 
before this time ; but I suppose the high aud dignified office which 
the Judge now holds — and upon which promotion I beg leave to 
offer my sincere congratulations — will prevent his being able to go 
so far from home." 

Mrs. Roosevelt has for many years past been in 
reality " a queen " in the leading society of New 
York. Her regal grace and dignified deportment, her 
animated, intellectual countenance, her conversation. 



MRS. J. J. ROOSEVELT. 291 

enriched with the treasures of a well-stored mind, and 
sprightly with brilliant fancies, adorn the drawing-room 
and give a charm to social intercourse wherever she 
is. Her entertainments have always been splendid, and 
marked by refined taste as well as lavish decoration. 
Flowers in profusion may be seen ; the arts are worthily 
represented, and her guests are unanimous in their testi- 
mony to the enjoyment provided for them. Nor is the 
time of this lady, acknowledged leader of " the ton " as 
she is, altogether given up to fashionable gayeties ; she 
is continually occupied with some good work, and is 
active and liberal in aiding many charities. In the 
great Sanitary Fair held in New York, Mrs. Roosevelt 
gave important assistance. The "Knickerbocker Kitch- 
en" was especially under her superintendence. The 
" Herald" report said : — 

"The high priestess of this ancient temple of cleanliness and 
comfort is Mrs. Judge Roosevelt, a lady of veritable Dutch descent, 
and a well-known leader in the best circles of New York society. 

" If Washington Irving could now step forth from his summer- 
hcfuse, he would put on his hat, take his cane, and quickly find his 
way to the Knickerbocker Kitchen. There, seated in some high- 
backed, broad-flottomed wooden chair, he would call for oly-koeks, 
krollers, rollitjes, &c, with a cup of tea, and doubtless he would 
be served by Mrs. Roosevelt herself, in the costume of her great- 
grandmother, which becomes her so well that she looks more like 
a Duchess than a Dutchwoman. 

" As you enter the door, the first glance conveys the impression 
that you have stepped across the ocean and are in a foreign coun- 
try. The second is, that you have slipped backward two hundred 
years or more ; and the middle of the seventeenth century, in the 
person of a pretty Dutch girl, stands before you. 

"Grim old Dutchmen look down upon you from dingy canvas 



292 QUEEisrs of American society. 

on the walls; long-waisted, straight-laced old ladies, in remarkable 

head-dresses, and round-faced children, in wonderful clothes, greet 
you at every turn. The tables groan with blue china, steel forks, 
and all the good things that were found on the Knickerbocker bill 
of fare. 

"Overhead, strings of dried apples hang in festoons from the 
heavy beams. Rows of dip-candles, large ears of seed-corn, and 
bright red-peppers adorn the ceiling. Above the deep fire-place, 
a shelf full of burnished pewter plates, copper sauce pans, bake- 
pans, kettles, and brass candlesticks, attest the devotion of the 
housewife to a godly cleanliness. The spinning-wheel is near at 
hand, the ancient dresser, and, above all, the corner china-closet, 
in which are displayed rare mementoes of the choice blue porcelain 
ware, once the pride of some old family table. In the chimney 
corner or bustling around the room, in old Dutch costumes, may 
be seen Mrs. Judge Eoosevelt, Mrs. Runnells, Mrs. Dr. Brown, 
Miss Roosevelt, and other ladies of the committee, which is com- 
posed exclusively of representatives from the oldest Dutch families 
in the State." 



The account of this distinguished family would be 
incomplete without a brief notice of Mrs. Roosevelt's 
sister, whose lot has been to reside abroad most of her life. 

Marcia, Lady Ouseley, says an English paper, " comes 
of a race of distinguished public servants of the United 
States." While the eminent diplomatist, Sir William 
Gore Ouseley, was at the British Legation in Washing- 
ton, Marcia, then extremely young, was married to him, 
in 1829. Their residence afterwards was in different 
European courts, where Sir William was employed in a 
Iplomatic capacity. He was a nephew of Sir Gore 
Ouseley, the famous Ambassador to Persia and St. 
Petersburg!!, and the son of Sir William Ouseley, the 



LADY OUSELEY. 293 

not less famous historian of the celebrated Persian em- 
bassy. Entering the diplomatic career at a very early 
age, he filled important posts in various countries. He 
served at the Court of Eio Janeiro, whither his wife 
accompanied him, and was much pleased with the pic- 
turesque place and scenery. Here Sir William repre- 
sented his queen and country at the coronation of the 
present Emperor of Brazil. Lady Ouseley accompanied 
him to Buenos Ayres in 1S44, and subsequently to 
"Washington, whither he went on a special mission, pre- 
viously to proceeding to Central America. Some years 
before this be was specially accredited to Monte Yideo, 
during a most eventful epoch in the annals of the East- 
ern States of South America, in whose prosperity he 
ever continued to take a lively interest, contributing to 
it by his persistent antagonism to the military despotism 
and commercial restrictiveness of Rosas. The opening 
up of the affluents of the La Plata was mainly due to 
the preliminary expedition on which he dispatched Cap- 
tain Hotham. 

During Lady Ouseley's stay in Washington she was 
the object of universal attention, and took part in the 
gayeties of the season. A brilliant party was given at 
her house in March, 1858 ; at another was described her 
"winning elegance of manner, which could not fail to 
command attention ;" at another, " Prominent in the 
throng we see Lady Ouseley's expressive face and en- 
gaging manners." Many such passing tributes show 
that she had a celebrity among the fairest in Washing- 



294 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

ton for her personal loveliness, charming manners, and 
accomplishments of conversation ; though her reign was 
hut short, as she was called to appear in other and more 
courtly scenes, and in the sunshine of royal favor. 

Sir William returned to England in 1860, from his 
mission to the governments of Central America and his 
visit to "Washington. He died on the 5th March, 1866, 
leaving only one child, a daughter, who was married to 
the Honorable James Terence Fitzmaurice, of the Royal 
Navy, son of the Earl of Orkney. 

Lady Ouseley was personally acquainted with many 
of the sovereigns of Europe ; among them the late King 
Leopold, of Belgium — " the Nestor of sovereigns ;" Queen 
Marie Amelie and her husband, Louis Philippe, with 
their family ; also the present emperor of France, Louis 
Napoleon. Her home of late years has been in England. 



MRS. SCOTT. 295 



XIV. 

The wife of General Winfield Scott was prominent 
in society where she lived. She was Maria Mayo, the 
daughter of John Mayo, of Eichmond, Virginia ; " a 
young lady more admired in her circle than her soldier 
husband." She had seven children, of whom four died 
young. She was not well known as a poetess ; but she 
wrote some creditable verses in Paris to cheer her hus- 
band on his mission of peace to Puget's Sound, San 
Juan Island, via Panama. He sailed in the " Star of 
the "West," September 20th, 1859. Mrs. Scott was 
present at a breakfast given to loyal American citizens 
in the Hotel du Louvre, Paris, in the May preceding 
her death. One hundred and fifty were present, one- 
third ladies. She was remarkable for pungent wit, and 
was often eccentric in her manners. 

General Scott paid a high but just tribute to William 
C. Preston, of South Carolina, for many years a United 
States Senator, in saying he was a man " of the purest 
morals, with a wife worthy to ' glide double — swan and 
shadow ' — down the stream of life with him. They were 
lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death not 
long divided." Both Mr. and Mrs. Preston were well 
known to the writer of this volume during her residence 



296 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

in South Carolina. Mr. Preston, as his friend observed, 
was " greatly gifted in genius and fancy ; highly accom- 
plished as a scholar, a gentleman, and a statesman, with 
splendid powers of oratory to enrapture the multitude 
and edify the intelligent ; with a soul so genial and a 
voice so sweet as to win all who approached him — young 
and old, men, women, and children." — " Though at an 
unhappy period he was given up to nullification, his 
good genius triumphed in the end ; for he lived long 
enough to make atonement to the Union, and to die 
faithful to the same allegiance that distinguished his 
grandfather Campbell, of King's Mountain, and his 
immediate parent, General Frank Preston, long mem- 
ber of Congress from Southwestern Virginia." He lived 
also to testify to his acceptance of the Christian's hope 
through a Redeemer, and to show the evidence of his 
earnest faith. 

Frank Preston, the father of William Campbell 
Preston, by his marriage with Miss Campbell, obtained 
the salt-works and mines of Abingdon and on the 
Kenawha. His sons were William C. ; John, who mar- 
ried Miss Hampton, of South Carolina, while in Louisi- 
ana; and Thomas, the present owner of the Abingdon 
property. His uncle had married Edmonia, daughter 
of Edmund Randolph, the first Attorney General of the 
United States, and the friend and legal adviser of 
Washington. Frank's daughters were Eliza, who mar- 
ried Colonel Carrington ; Susan, who married James 
McDowell, Governor of Virginia, the brother of Mrs. 



MRS. PRESTON. 297 

Benton ; Sophy, who became the wife of Rev. Robert 
Breckenridge, of Kentucky;* and Sarah, who married 
her cousin, Governor Floyd of Virginia, f The sister of 
Frank married one of Madison's family. 

William Preston, a brother of Frank Preston, mar- 
ried Miss Hancock, and settled in Kentucky on a grant 
of military land, now the site of part of the city of Louis- 
ville. Their only son was William Preston, afterwards 
minister to Spain, who married Margaret Wickliffe, the 
daughter of Robert Wickliffe, an eminent lawyer of 
Kentucky, and the owner of extensive lands and large 
fortune. He was distinguished for elegance of manner 
combined with determination and strength of will, being 
popularly called " The Old Duke." His home in Lex- 
ington, over which two of his daughters presided, was 
noted for hospitality, and was the center of social attrac- 
tion for several years. The eldest daughter married 
Judge Wooley, an eminent jurist; Mary became the 
wife of John Preston of West Virginia. After Marga- 
ret's marriage, she went to reside in Louisville. She 
accompanied her husband to Washington when he 
became member of Congress for that district, and 
afterwards when he went as ambassador to Spain. 
Everywhere her beauty and intellect, her accomplish- 
ments and charming manners and conversation, and 



* Dr, Breckenridge of the Presbyterian Church, uncle to John Breck- 
enridge. 

f His father was Dr. Floyd, United States Senator ; his mother, the 
sister of Frank Preston. 
13* 



298 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

her influence in society, gave her a leading position. 
Both she and General Preston were of majestic height 
and regal appearance. Since the late war they reside in 
Lexington, on Mrs. Preston's estate. 

Mrs. Merrick, the wife of Judge Merrick, of the 
United States District of Columbia, was the daughter 
of Charles WicklifTe. She was a leader in Washington 
society, and gave superb entertainments. 

I have heard Washington Irving remark, that Wil- 
liam C. Preston was the most brilliant man in conversa- 
tion he had ever known. His discourse, in fact, sparkled 
with illustration and wit, in which sarcasm was often 
blended. Sometimes, by a felicitous turn, he would 
rebuke an unjust or censorious remark. One evening at 
Professor Ellet's house, a gentleman known to have a 
stupid wife, looking at an engraving of Lady Byron, 
said : " I should not like to marry one of these clever 
women ; they are seldom suited for it ;" whereupon Mr. 
Preston coolly added : " Well, I like to see a man's 
practice in life correspond with his theory." His words 
were often pictures, and, in ordinary conversation, 
seemed to glow with the abundance of the treasures his 
fancy showered ; it almost realized the fable of the fairy 
who dropped pearls and jewels from her lips in speaking. 

The second wife of Mr. Preston was Louisa Penelope 
Davis, the daughter of Dr. James Davis, of Columbia, 
South Carolina. She was born in 1807. She improved 
the advantages of a superior education, having little 
taste for the occupations in which young girls generally 



MRS. PRESTON. 299 

delight ; and became distinguished among her associates 
for the extent and variety of her acquirements. Her 
powers of conversation were remarkable ; pronounced 
by Calhoun, Mitchell King, and others, superior to 
those of any other woman they ever knew. In girlhood 
she possessed great beauty, combined with graceful and 
winning manners, which made her a favorite with. all. 
The soft melody of her voice, with its clear and rather 
slow articulation, added to the pleasing effect of her ani- 
mated language, in which her delicate wit illustrated 
every subject. 

In the autumn of 1830, Miss Davis gave her hand to 
William Campbell Preston. During his brilliant career 
in public life she was his inseparable companion, the 
shir of beauty and wit in Washington, the leader of the 
most aristocratic society in her native town. Her health 
became very fragile, but she never relaxed in her devo- 
ted attentions to her husband, who suffered much from 
illness. To please him, she cultivated her rare mental 
powers, and read the works in which he delighted. The 
Bible, and Shakespeare's plays, were so familiar to her 
retentive memory, she was almost a living book of con- 
cordance to them. In Columbia she was the acknow- 
ledged queen of society. Her entertainments were 
marked by good taste as well as profuse liberality. The 
house had a large and well-shaded garden, in which the 
company was invited to wander on summer evenings, 
lamps being hung in the trees and shrubbery. Some- 
times refreshments were served in the grove. I remem- 



300 ' QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

ber the visit of Baron von Paumer, who wrote a book 
entitled " America and the American People." He thus 
mentioned the occurrence : — 

" We dined with an agreeable party at the house of 
Colonel Preston. After dinner we had a very interest- 
ing conversation upon Shakespeare and the Greek tra- 
gedians. Our host showed throughout a great deal of 
knowledge and acute judgment ; others were not be- 
hindhand ; and the ladies also took a lively part in the 
discussion. Seldom do we hear among us such sensible 
and coherent remarks." 

The soil of that portion of South Carolina did not 
produce the grassy turf so beautiful in the Northern 
States ; but Mrs. Preston, with great pains, had culti- 
vated a square space where the grass was green in 
spring ; and here, after dinner, her guests were invited 
to sit in the cool shade. She had a favorite peacock, 
with a gorgeous tail, which he was fond of spreading ; 
but on this occasion the perverse bird chose to hide his 
brilliant plumage among the shrubbery, out of the sight 
of the distinguished visitor. Desirous of showing off 
her pet, Mrs. Preston whispered to me a request that I 
would drive the bird upon the green in front of her 
guests. The young baron, son of the elder, volunteered 
his assistance, holding a glass to his eye, for he was 
extremely near-sighted. The obstinate peacock seemed 
determined to balk our purpose; he ran into all manner 
of obscure by-ways ; and when, after long pursuit, the 
chase became vigorous, and he was fairly cooped in to 



MRS. PRESTON. 801 

the desired locality, lie fled, with closed plumes and 
frightened pace, across the Baron's feet, quite unnoticed. 
The learned German was discoursing on the topics he 
mentions, and would no doubt have despised the spread 
tail had he seen it. What made the failure more pro- 
voking was, that an ugly turkey buzzard, of whom Mr. 
Preston had made an uncouth pet, sturdily refused to be 
kept in the background. 

Soon after Mr. Preston's retirement from the Senate 
of the United States, he was chosen President of the 
South Carolina College, which his reputation and talents 
raised to much prosperity. Here Mrs. Preston's influ- 
ence was felt in a new sphere. Her benignity and kind- 
ness conciliated the respect and gratitude of the students ; 
and her entertainments diffused a general spirit of cour- 
tesy and good-will, that promised to open a vista of 
increasing usefulness to the institution. But renewed 
attacks of illness constrained her husband to resign his 
position, and seek the restoration of his health in retire- 
ment. In March, 1853, they made an excursion to 
Louisiana, to visit the plantation of his brother, John S. 
Preston. Mr. Preston's health improved; but that of 
his -wife gave way, and she was seized with a disease 
which for her medicine could not relieve. For weeks 
she suffered, anxious to return home, but unable to be 
removed, till a slight improvement induced her physi- 
cians to consent to her removal to South Carolina. She 
reached her beloved home a few days before her death. 
Her mother, her brothers and sisters, and many friend? 



302 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

were near her, and calm in the assurance of a blessed 
immortality — for her life had for years been passed in 
the light of Christian faith — did she " like tired breezes 
fall asleep." 

I cannot resist the temptation of including some 
notice of a beloved friend, whose influence, limited 
indeed within a select circle, was powerful over all who 
knew her. She was a native of Scotland, but the greater 
part of her life was passed in the city of New York, 
where, up to the advanced age of seventy-seven, she 
adorned a high position with all those qualities of heart 
and mind, all those sweet and captivating amenities of 
manner, which had in her youth, when joined to great 
personal attractions, rendered her one of the most fas- 
cinating maidens of Annandale, in Scotland. Her father 
was the Rev. Andrew Jeffrey, of Lochmaben, in Dum- 
frieshire. At his fireside the bright blue eyes of his 
daughter, the young and blooming Jeanie Jeffrey, then 
only in her fifteenth year, attracted the beauty-loving 
eye of Burns, who, under the impression they had pro- 
duced upon his imagination, made her the subject of one 
of his sweetest songs : — 

"I gaed a woefu' gate yestreen, 
A gate I fear I'll dearly rue : 
I gat my death frae twa sweet e'en, 
Twa lovely e'en sae bonnie blue." &c* 

* A memoir of Mrs. Renwick, written by the accomplished Mrs. Bal- 
manno, and included in her illustrated volume entitled "Pen and Pencil" 
— a volume which is a credit to American art and literature — enables me 
to givo her reminiscences of our friend. 



MRS. RENWICK. 303 

" Often in the familiar flow of friendly conversation 
lias she described, with animation, the universal joy 
which prevailed among the younger inmates of the 
manse, herself included, when the step of their father's 
friend — Burns — was heard at the door ; the joyful en- 
thusiasm which his appearance never failed to create, 
and then the hushed quietness on their part which suc- 
ceeded his entrance ; while, with their creepies (low 
footstools) drawn as closely round him as possible, they 
sat looking up into his face, listening to his eloquent 
words, and never weary of watching the changes of his 
varying countenance. His powers of conversation, she 
said, were nnequaled; feelings the most ardent, fancies 
the most brilliant, perpetually leaping forth, and render- 
ing the commonest theme from his lips full of novelty 
and beauty. The pastor's hospitable fireside, independ- 
ent of its own intrinsic charm, must for him have 
abounded in associations the most romantic ; Marion 
Fairlie, the ' Fairlie fair ' of Scottish song, being the 
ancestress of Mrs. Jeffrey, who herself was the direct 
descendant of ' Jonnie Armstrong,' the famous free- 
booter, and had in her maiden days formed the theme 
of song as the ' Nannie ' of ' Roslyn Castle.' " 

In a letter to her sister-in-law, Mrs. Renwick thus 
describes the occasion upon which Burns addressed to 
her the poem above referred to : — 

" It was after dinner, in company with the poet, at the house 
of Mr. Nicol, who was living at Moffat for the benefit of his child's 
health, that Burns sent to me the two songs — 'Willy brewed a 



804 QUEENS OF AMERICAN" SOCIETY. 

Peck o' Maut' and 'The Blue-eyed Lassie.' Mr. Nicol was the 
'Willie' whose 'inaut got aboon the meal' that night with the 
poet. I was then only fifteen, and sic a wee bit lassie, that Burns 
danced out with me in his arms, and put me into the carriage to 
my father, singing 'Green grow the rushes, O.' 

"Poor, poor Burns! how often have I seen him in a cold win- 
ter's night, when he had been riding for hours over the moors and 
mosses after smugglers (what a task for such a spirit!), open our 
little parlor door, and stalk in with his great lion-skin coat and fur 
cap covered with snow, and his fine Newfoundland dog, Thurlow, 
at his side, looking stern and dour, as if at war with all the world. 
With what kindness he was welcomed by my dear parents, while 
my sister and self seated him in my mother's easy-chair, brought 
dry slippers, ;,nd prepared for hira a warm, comfortable cup of tea; 
then, seating ourselves on our low creepies at his feet, watched his 
countenance brighten up into almost more than mortal beauty and 
intelligence, and listened to his inspired words, every one of which 
was absolute poetry." 

Burns addressed to this " blue-eyed lassie " another 
song, beginning, "When first I saw my Jeanie's face," &c. 

Mrs. Balmanno describes Mrs. Renwick in her later 
years: — " Of medium height, her features feminine and 
regular, with a benign, engaging aspect. Her com- 
plexion was still fresh, her brow unwrinkled, and her 
eyes still those of the ' Blue-eyed Lassie ;' and when, a 
short time before her death, she was humorously de- 
scribing the great number of her descendants, her cheeks 
were dimpled with pleasure, and she spoke with such a 
sweet voice, laughing at the same time so softly and yet 
merrily, that it seemed no wonder she should have made 
so many hearts her own in the days o' lang syne, some 
sixty years ago, when she was that most beautiful girl 
and elegant dancer described bv Mr. Cameron. This 



MKS. REN WICK. 803 

gentleman, a Highlander by birth, passed much of his 
boyhood at Lochmaben, where he describes himself 
deeply enamored of ' Jeanie Jeffrey,' having a 'great 
jealousy' in those days of ' ane Wully Brown' (after- 
wards Sir Wilham Brown), his powerful rival at the, 
dancing-school." 

" How delightful was a visit to Mrs. Renwick's house 
in Barclay Street, New York ! The servants wore an 
honest, kindly look, as if glad to see their mistress's 
friends ; while she herself, to whom time had given a 
grace for every one it had taken away, received her 
friends in a manner that showed she loved them, and 
spoke and smiled a thousand welcomes. Surrounded by 
objects of taste and vertu, of elegance and luxury, by 
pretty little tributes of affection and respect, by all that 
can delight the eye or charm the mind, the beholder ex- 
perienced that sense of pleasure which arises from objects 
in just proportion and harmony with each other. In a 
conspicuous situation hung a fine old Andrea Ferrara, 
that perchance had given many a hard blow at Ban- 
nockburn, and beneath it stood a finely chased antique 
silver casket, containing a pair of the silk and silver- 
fringed long kid gloves of the lovely Mary Stuart, queen 
of Scotland. This interesting relic came into the pos- 
session of Mrs. Kenwick from the representatives of her 
relative, Professor Kemp, of Columbia College, New 
York. In his family, in Aberdeenshire, it had been an 
heirloom, traced back more than two centuries. 

" The two lai'ge bow-windows were filled with choice 



306 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

flowers, one of the windows affording entrance to a long, 
narrow terrace, overlooking beautiful gardens and ven- 
erable trees, old Indian warriors of the woods, which had 
been saplings when New York was a choice hunting- 
ground; dear to her eye as shadowing the grounds of 
Columbia College and the house of her son, who was its 
distinguished Professor of Chemistry. This pleasant 
walk was always in summer crowded with exotics, large 
and small, among which she loved to walk, and from 
whose treasures she enriched the conservatories and 
drawing-rooms of her friends. There also might be 
found violets, daisies, Scotch heaths, bluebells, and the 
'lang yellow broom,' cherished as mementoes of that 
far ' long ago ' which spoke to her again in its old fami- 
liar flowers. Amidst these charming objects of innocent 
delight, she cheerfully pursued her needle- work or knit- 
ting, chatting vivaciously on old times or new, and 
managing to make people, when they retired from her 
presence, have a better idea of themselves, their friends, 
their neighbors, and the world in general. The elasticity 
and vigor of her mind were wonderful. Even to the 
last she read and enjoyed all the best publications as 
they came out, with the same keen zest and appreciative 
judgment for which she had ever been distinguished, 
taking the greatest delight in the fine passages and noble 
sentiments of her favorite authors, and often devoting 
many hours after she retired to her chamber in perusing 
them." Truly was she called "good, gentle, and true; 
possessed of all that gives loveliness to female character." 



MRS. JOHN C. STEVENS. 307 

"The simplest souvenirs from her hand were accom- 
panied by a tenderness, a tact, and a grace, that made 
trifles precious by her manner of bestowing them." 

Washington Irving was an intimate friend of Mrs. 
Renwick, and spent hours in conversation with her 
whenever he visited New York. She gave him a root 
from her ivy, which had grown from a root brought 
from Melrose Abbey,* and covered the wall in her gar- 
den. Irving called her house his " Ark," as his favorite 
resort. Professor Charles Anthon called her " The 
Queen," in his epistolary and poetic compliments. 
Henry Brevoort and Mr. John Greig, of Canandaigua, 
were her devoted friends. 

Maria Livingston, who married John C. Stevens, was 
for some years a leader in the fashionable society of 
New York. She lived in a splendid stone mansion, 
with pretty grounds, in College Place, and gave brilliant 
parties and masquerade balls, with select dinners, and 
general receptions once a week. She was remarkably 
clever, had an excellent memory, and was witty in 
repartee. The following description, from a letter, of 
one of her entertainments may illustrate them : — 

" The great feature of the week in the fashionable world has 
been the ball en masque of Mrs. John C. Stevens. From ten till 
eleven o'clock long lines of carriages were delivering, at her mag- 
nificent portal, into the hands of that indispensable adjunct to all 

* A root from the same beautiful ivy, given me by Mrs. Renwick, I 
planted in front of our house in the college grounds, Columbia, South 
Carolina. It has since covered the front of that and the adjoining house, 
and survived the devastation of Columbia in the late war. 



308 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

parties, Mr. Brown, the fair denizens of New York — from the tow- 
ering battlements of Murray Hill to the Italian villas of Fifteenth 
Street; from the Tuscan and Doric mansions of the Fifth Avenue 
and Union Square, to the sylvan shades of Chelsea. No one in 
New York entertains more elegantly than Mrs. Stevens; her tables 
groan with the choicest productions of the season ; and on the score 
of wines, John C. Stevens yields the palm to none, and, like his 
famous yacht America, carries all before him. Among the ladies 
were Mrs. Parish, in a rich pink brocade, trimmed with antique 
lace and diamonds ; Mrs. Hickson W. Field, in a sea-green velvet, 
trimmed with three flounces of very rich guipure lace, with head- 
dress to match, and a fine display of diamonds. Young Mrs. Pen- 
dleton wore a scarlet satin dress covered with point lace, her fair 
neck encircled with a chain of very large diamonds ; a white wreath 
in her hair completed the beautiful toilet. 

"Mrs. William Jones appeared in white lace trimmed with gold 
fringe, with cap and plume to match. Mrs. John Oostar was in 
lemon-colored silk trimmed with rich lace, her brow encircled with 
a tiara of diamonds. Mrs. Haight wore a rich white lace dress, 
powdered hair, and long waving plumes. Mrs. William Schermer- 
horn wore a profusion of antique lace and diamonds." 

The Mrs. Parish referred to was Miss Susan Dela- 
field. She married Henry Parish, a prominent mer- 
chant, and was a party in the famous " Parish will case." 
She lived in Union Square, and gave splendid entertain- 
ments. Sixteen hundred invitations would be sent out 
for a morning reception. She is said to have been the 
first to introduce the ancient custom of birds dressed in 
their plumage at suppers. A peacock roasted, and 
adorned with its feathers and spread plumes, was a 
favorite ornament on her table. She was celebrated also 
for superior literary attainments and general culture. 

The elder Mrs. Hickson Field was Katharine A. 
Bradhurst, and married first John McKesson, a noted 



MRS. niOKSON FIELD. — MRS. EEDFIELD. 809 

lawyer. Her second husband was Hickson Field, who 
was also a widower. Mrs. John Jay is his daughter by 
his first marriage. His son, Hickson, married Mary 
Bradhiirst, the niece of his second wife. Both these 
ladies have been abroad some years. 

We have not space for the merest mention of leading 
ladies in different sections of the country of the present 
time. To do them justice would require another volume. 
A friend sends account of a lady residing in Syracuse, 
New York, whose social influence has been salutary and 
widely acknowledged. Mrs. Redfield — Ann Maria 
Tredwell — is not only noted for position, but known as 
the author of a popular work — " Zoological Science, or 
Nature in Living Forms " — a book commended by Pro- 
fessor Agassiz as one that would " do great credit to a 
majority of college professors in this department." She 
came of a distinguished family. Her grandfather 
devoted his entire fortune and best energies to the 
support of American independence in the great struggle 
for nationality, and served his country in Congress 
during its first sessions ; while her father obtained dis- 
tinction by his military services^in the war of 1812. 
Ann Maria was born at the beginning of the century, at 
St. Crignal, Canada West, and passed the earliest part 
of her life .on the banks of the beautiful Ottawa ; after- 
wards residing at Plattsburg, a place named for her 
mother's family. She was educated in the school of 
Mrs. Willard, at Troy. Her intellectual culture was 
softened by native refinement and a sympathy that went 



310 QUEEN'S OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

forth spontaneously towards all who needed it or claimed 
her tenderness. The mother of a numerous family, she 
took pains with the education of children who, like her, 
are prominent in society. 

Mrs. Leavenworth is identified in a measure with the 
prosperity of Syracuse, which town was founded by her 
father, Hon. Joshua Form an. Mary, his daughter, was 
born in the romantic valley of Onondaga, being descend- 
ed from leading families on both sides. Her maternal 
grandfather was Hon. Boyd Alexander, member of 
Parliament for Glasgow, Scotland. As a young lady 
she was noted for beauty of person, elegance an,d refine- 
ment of manners, and mental powers that gave her 
extensive influence, and directed the judicious employ- 
ment of an ample fortune. She married a professional 
gentleman who had been much in public life, and with 
the cares of a family and of liberal hospitality found 
time for the exercise of systematic charity. She was 
one of the first to establish a Home for orphan children ; 
and while presiding over such an institution, she is 
manager of one for indigent women. During the war, 
she was president of the Christian and Sanitary Commis- 
sion, and was indefatigable in her benevolent labors. 
Her attractive home is still the resort of the most intel- 
ligent and distinguished of the townspeople and visitors. 



-~*v 




MRS. HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 311 



XV. 

Otis is an old Revolutionary name, and " has the 
true patriotic ring." In that great charter of freedom, 
the Declaration of American Independence, it occupies 
an honored place, and has always been cherished as a 
household name in the United States. Mrs. Harrison 
Gray Otis is the daughter of tv Boston merchant, William 
H. Bordman, who was largely engaged in the Northwest 
Coast, China, and India trade. He married Elizabeth 
Henderson, the daughter of Joseph Henderson, who was 
the first high sheriff of the county of Suffolk, in Massa- 
chusetts. The sword he once wore is now hanging in 
the City Hall of Boston, as a historical relic. It was his 
duty to read the proclamation of Congress, announcing 
" A Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and Ame- 
rica," from the State House balcony, on the 23d of April, 
1783. 

The parents of Miss Elizabeth Bordman were devoted 
to their children, and gave personal care to their educa- 
tion, which was not only thorough in all branches, but 
elevated by all the salutary and beneficent influences felt 
only in a happy and religious home. The subject of our 
sketch at an early age married the eldest son of the Hon. 
Harrison Gray Otis, who bore the same name with his 



812 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

father. They were said to be the handsomest bridal 
pair in Boston. Her term of married life was short, and 
she was left a widow with young sons dependent on her 
care. Anxious to secure them the best advantages of 
education, and to improve her own mind by study and 
observation, Mrs. Otis took her sons to Europe, remain- 
ing abroad seven years. During that time she visited 
many friends of rank and distinction, and was received 
with marked favor among literary circles and the aris- 
tocracy of different countries, being presented at several 
courts. Thus her time passed agreeably ; but the attain- 
ment of social distinction was never an object with her. 
As soon as she had accomplished her design in forward- 
ing the studies of her boys, Mrs. Otis returned to 
America, and took up her permauent residence in 
Boston. Here she employed all her time that could be 
spared from domestic and educational duties in works of 
benevolence, lending ever ready aid to institutions of 
charity and temporary efforts to benefit those in need. 
She gave efficient aid to " The Blind Asylum Fair," 
" The Sailors' Snug Harbor," " The Washington Eques- 
trian Statue," and other fairs, and devoted much time 
and labor to the enterprise of purchasing Mount Ver- 
non. After the work was stopped by Miss Cunning- 
ham's departure for the South, Mrs. Otis persevered in 
her exertions, and had the pleasure of giving to the 
cause its crowning contribution — the last sum which 
secured the purchase of Washington's tomb. Thus the 
record of her life, almost from early youth, has been a 



MIIS. HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 313 

chronicle of noble deeds for the benefit of the public and 
the country. 

This last gift to the Treasury was from the proceeds 
of the Mount Vernon Ball, got up by Mrs. Otis at the 
Boston Theatre, March 4th, 1859. It was said to be 
" more splendid in its arrangement, more brilliant in its 
array of fair women and brave men, and nobler in its 
purpose, than any thing which had ever preceded it." 
The Boston Theatre presented a scene of unsurpassed 
beauty and magnificence. In the vestibule the flags of 
all nations covered the heads of the children of America, 
and hung in graceful folds at their sides, while the scene 
beyond was one more gorgeous than is often offered to 
the eye. An angel of mercy sounded forth upon his 
trumpet the new offering which those who had assem- 
bled were about to make to a noble object. The deco- 
rations were admirable. The sum realized towards the 
purchase of Mount Vernon was about ten thousand 
dollars. 

It was due to the untiring exertions of Mrs. Otis, 
commenced about 1850, that the birthday of Washington 
was made by law a holiday in Massachusetts. It had 
been her custom to open her house for a public reception 
on that day, and the guests were coming and departing 
all day. The house was usually dressed with American 
flags. The rooms were fragrant with large bouquets and 
flowers of the choicest variety, sent by friends. The mili- 
tary bodies celebrating the day passed by the house, and 

the band paid the customary salute to this patriotic lady, 
li 



314 QUEENS OF AMEKICAN SOCIETY. 

On the return of Mrs. Otis from Europe she opened 
her house for Saturday morning receptions and Thurs- 
day evening soirees, conducted on the foreign plan of tea 
and cakes. She did not vary this simple style of enter- 
tainment, even when strangers of distinction were her 
guests. On one occasion, at the opening of the railway 
between Boston and Montreal, the President of the 
United States, Mr. Fillmore, the Governor General of 
Canada, Lord Elgin and suite, an Indian chief, and 
many strangers of note were present at the same time. 
Her house was then kept open a week for the reception 
of visitors, hut the same plain style of refreshments was 
preserved. The house standing at the corner of Mount 
Yernon and Joy Streets was the well-known resort of all 
the fashion and gayety of Boston, and of all distinguished 
strangers who came to the city. Many brought letters 
from the European friends of Mrs. Otis, and some were 
commended by sovereigns in the old world to her hos- 
pitable attentions. 

Mrs. Otis's connection, by blood and by marriage, 
with the oldest and most distinguished families in the 
country, her command of wealth, her literary accom- 
plishments, her sprightly humor, and her attainments as 
a linguist— speaking fluently four or five languages — 
with a personal power acknowledged by all who became 
acquainted with her as irresistibly charming, gave her 
an influence in society unrivaled in her own city or 
State. It was her delight to use this power in doing 
good, and especially by her example to lead others to 



MKS. HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 315 

seek opportunities of aiding worthy charities. Few left 
her after a long interview without enlarged views and 
more earnest aspirations in some good work ; and many 
who were friendless and destitute had reason to be 
grateful for efficient aid. Mrs. Otis visited other parts 
of the United States, and spent much time in Norfolk, 
gathering information she was afterwards to make 
useful. 

The time came when she resolved to relinquish her 
social honors, to give up visiting and receiving guests, to 
pack up and put away her books and her works of art, 
and to devote her whole time, her house, and her means 
to a needed public service. This was immediately after 
the commencement of the late civil war. The city 
government of Boston at that time was offered the use 
of a hotel, called the Evans House, as a place of deposit 
for goods and money for American soldiers and sailors 
and their families. The high position of Mrs. Otis, her 
administrative energy and untiring zeal, and her habit 
of leading projects of improvement, rendered her very 
name a tower of strength, and the authorities invited 
her to take charge of the new enterprise, and to carry 
out her own plans. One of these was the establishment 
of a Bank of Faith ; and most successful did she make 
it. The following extract from her first report will 
give the best idea of her work : — 

"Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis presents her compliments to Hi? 
Honor the Mayor and the gentlemen of the Donation Committee 
of the City Government of Boston ; and having entered the Evan? 



316 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY 

House, which was lent to the city hy the liberality of William 
Evans, Esq., on the 29th of April, 1861, now begs leave to submit 
for their consideration a recapitulation of the work which has been 
done in that establishment. The plan of placing a woman in com- 
munication with the soldiery, outside of hospitals, having been 
entirely original as far as her knowledge extends, and being a nov- 
elty, it was naturally by many persons considered wholly impracti- 
cable, and various were the prognostications issued of its lack of 
duration, and even security from insubordination and rudeness. 
Mrs. Otis commences by stating that nothing can surpass the 
exceeding respect, deference, and boundless gratitude with which 
she has been treated — to such an extent that she feels warranted' 
in asserting that, religiously, morally, and physically, she firmly 
believes the Evans House to have been most beneficial to the Mas- 
sachusetts troops. It has been, in some sort, a home to friendless 
soldiers, sick, suffering, discharged and paroled. Soldiers of other 
States and from the South passing through Boston have derived 
benefit from this house. The names of fifty regiments and batteries 
are on its books, from which large numbers of men have partici- 
pated in its stores, and are now daily sending, individually, from 
the army and hospitals, for comforts which they know will be 
instantly forwarded to them. Thousands of letters have been 
received from them, stating in glowing terms their gratitude on 
their reception. A few sailors have made their appearance at the 
house, and have been well satisfied with their visits. It has been 
believed to be a most important part of this novel plan, that the 
donations of wearing apparel, books, &c, should be personally 
made. It is proved that all articles so presented have acquired a 
far greater intrinsic value from the acquaintance made with the 
house, conferring a local habitation and a name on the source of 
the bounty. 

"Now, gentlemen, it may well be asked: 'From whence pro- 
ceeded the money and effects to answer these enormous demands 
on the Evans House, not one cent or one shred having been begged 
for the great cause — not even from yourselves, by the writer?' 
The answer is this: A Bank of Faith was established, and, under 
Divine Providence, it has grandly prospered. Noble men, women, 
young girls, and even little children of all classes and conditions — 
rich and poor — have contributed liberally after their means and 
fashion," &c. 



MRS. HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 317 

The Committee on Military Donations, December 
22, 1882, passed the following resolution : — 

"That this institution, under the management of this most 
excellent and patriotic lady, has heen of incalculable benefit to the 
soldiers of our army. By her untiring perseverance and benevo- 
lence, our volunteers have been supplied not only with substantial, 
well-made clothing, necessary for a campaign, but with many of 
those smaller articles calculated to render their camp life more 
comfortable, and which could only have been provided by womanly 
kindness and forethought. 

" Without entering into details, some idea of her labors, and the 
generous donations winch have been received and distributed by 
Mrs. Otis, may be derived from the fact that five thousand four 
hundred dollars have been received in cash, and two hundred and 
fifty thousand six hundred and seventeen articles have been dis- 
tributed. Many donors presenting well-filled boxes and barrels, 
ready for hospital use, with the assurance that they were properly 
packed for transportation ; the package, with its contents, having 
been considered but a single article in the enumeration." 

Such labors, as may well be imagined, entailed on 
Mrs. Otis the severest self-denial and unremitting exer- 
tions. She gave her personal superintendence to every 
thing, and assisted in all that was done ; never leaving 
the house for a single day, nor relaxing her labors long 
enough to visit a single place of private or public amuse- 
ment. Her life had been a summer of joy, her youth 
renewed continually by the ever-gushing fountain of 
cheerfulness ; the sympathy and love that filled her 
heart made her Religion's willing handmaid and almo- 
ner. But she was prepared to be still more disinterested, 
and to undertake tasks that might have repelled one less 
anxious to alleviate suffering and minister to the wants 



318 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY". 

of the deserving poor. ~No small degree of heroic forti- 
tude and firmness was required to carry out the great 
and beneficent objects of the organization. Mrs. Otis 
did so with an entire disregard of her own personal com- 
forts, and a self-abandonment rarely found among the 
greatest philanthropists. 
Another report says : — 

"Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis presents her compliments to His 
Honor the Mayor and the gentlemen of the Donation Committee 
of the City Government of Boston, and informs them that on the 
29th of April, 1864, she completed the third year of her most inter- 
esting work in Boston for the soldiery, having commenced it in the 
Evans House in 1861, and therein remained two years, and one 
year at 126 Tremont Street, opposite Park Street Church. During 
this period she has not left her post for one day, excepting on 
Sundays and religious festivals, and has found abundant occupation 
in the distribution of all manner of useful articles conducing to the 
comfort and welfare of the troops, as well as sick, suffering, and 
dying soldiers, in their tents and hospitals; and others in their own 
homes. 

" Thousands of soldiers and their families have blessed the 
willing givers; for not one cent has been begged, Mrs. Otis's whole 
system having been based on voluntary donations ; and you well 
know, gentlemen, she has not received any pecuniary assistance 
from yourselves. The original plan, a sort of Bank of Faith, has 
been thoroughly tested, with perfect success, and no deviation has 
been made from the opening of the house. 

" During the seventeen months this report covers, there have 
been distributed four thousand dollars in money, and two hundred 
thousand substantial articles, comprising shirts, drawers, socks, 
mittens, soldiers' bags, containing implements for mending clothes, 
pocket handkerchiefs, towels, comforters, blankets, pillows, night- 
gowns, dressing-gowns, and all kinds of hospital garments and 
stores, of wines, liquors, spices, tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar, &c. 
Testaments, prayer-books, tracts, and reading matter have been 
abundantly supplied." 



MES. HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 319 

As an instance of the appreciation of foreigners, the 
following account of a Swedish compliment paid to Mrs. 
Otis may be mentioned : — 

"By invitation of Captain Adlerspawe, Mrs. Otis visited the 
Swedish man-of-war Norrlcoping yesterday afternoon. Her recep- 
tion on board was most flattering. The marines were in line at 
present arms, the sailors then formed in line around the deck of the 
vessel, so that every face could be seen, and a good idea of the 
Swedish physiognomy obtained. The gun-deck and officers' apart- 
ments were next, viewed. After that an entertainment was given 
in the Captain's saloon, when the Captain proposed a toast in honor 
of Mrs. Otis, stating that her patriotic life was a model for ladies 
of every nation, especially when harassed by war. 

"Before Mrs. Otis left the ship, the sailors gave an exhibition 
of their national dances. One — the Weaver's Dance — is suggestive 
of the spinning of thread and weaving of cloth, and is very compli- 
cated and beautiful. 'The music is as weird, dolorous, and charm- 
ing as the ancient lore of the country. 

" On her departure the yards were manned, and three hearty 
cheers were given for Mrs. Otis, and a salute from all the guns of 
the vessel was fired in her honor." 

As this will he, perhaps, the only connected memoir, 
in enduring form, of this wonderful charity, I offer no 
apology for occupying space in the history of it. An- 
other report, dated April 29, 1865, says : — 

"Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis presents her compliments to His 
Honor the Mayor and the gentlemen of the Donation Committee 
of the City Government of Boston, and informs them that on the 
20th of April, 1865, she completed the fourth year of her interest- 
ing work for the soldiers. 

"The furloughs which have been bestowed upon the men for 
bravery and good conduct, have resulted in pleasant visits to their 
well-remembered resting-place, from which their families have also 
derived support. Mrs. Otis can never forget the last touching 
request of a young and brave officer — Colonel Griswold. ' I have 



820 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

a favor to ask,' he said; 'two of my men have heen promoted for 
hravery to lieutenancies, and, as I firmly believe in the beneficial 
efficacy of the gifts of Testaments and useful articles from this 
house, personally presented as they are by yourself, I beg I may 
give them introductions to yon.' 

" With regard to the outfits, it is undoubtedly true that the 
greatest care has been taken of them, and a certain degree of pride 
exhibited in their preservation. Many of the Testaments and 
prayer-books, with the signet of the House attached, and even 
garments, have been brougbt home drenched with the blood of 
their possessors, after a three years' service. 

" The supplies of the House have not been confined to Massa- 
chusetts alone ; no soldier with fitting testimonials has ever left it 
empty-handed. 

" A corporal with six soldiers, accompanied by a drummer boy, 
went to bathe in a river near Boston, and, observing the little 
fellow carefully concealing under a pile of leaves something very 
precious, at least to him, their curiosity was aroused, and they 
questioned him. The boy replied it was an article he very much 
prized, and always carried with him wherever he went; they 
laughed, and teasingly suggested various childish things; where- 
upon he knelt, and, removing the leaves, exhibited a Testament, 
saying that Mrs. Otis had given it to him and begged him to pre- 
serve it. The next week the corporal and his six men all came to 
the house, asked for, and received Testaments. 

"During the twelve months this report covers, there have been 
distributed three thousand dollars in money, and fifty thousand 
substantial articles. Testaments, Bibles, prayer-books, and tracts 
have been abundantly supplied, and newspapers of all sorts." 

At a council meeting, Alderman Clapp offered the 
following preamble and resolutions, which were parsed : 

" Whereas, During the war recently brought to a close, Mrs. 
Harrison Gray Otis, acting in behalf of the citizens, and with the 
approval of the City Council, has devoted her time for four years 
to the charge of the City Donation Room, laboring incessantly to 
provide comforts for the sick and wounded soldiers, and clothing 
to those in need ; therefore 



MRS. HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 321 

"Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council are hereby ten- 
dered to Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis for her labor of love, which has 
been productive of great good to the heroes of the war, and has 
reflected credit upon the city of Boston. 

" Resolved, That a copy of this vote be sent to Mrs. Otis by tho 
City Clerk." 

" This remarkable lady," said a prominent journal, 
" lias done more to alleviate the sufferings of the soldiers 
than is generally known. At the beginning of the war 
she expended largely of her own ample fortune. During 
four years she was never absent a single day from her 
post — not even on the Fourth of July (except Sundays) 
— from ten a. m. to three p. m. Her noble deeds have 
attracted even the notice of foreign countries. The 
Stockholm Daily, of Sweden, contained her portrait 
and three columns on the subject of her labors. She is 
a friend to all the hospitals. Soldiers in service, soldiers 
disabled and discharged, all go to see her, and come 
away happy. Her name will be prominent in history, 
and will be honored by future generations. 

" We can call to mind no other instance of such ex- 
clusive, prolonged, uninterrupted devotion to the soldiers, 
carried on from day to day with undiminished enthusi- 
asm and activity. Mrs. Otis's position in society helped 
her position as head of the Donation Room ; for it drew 
to her large amounts of contributions in money and 
goods. But she not merely gave to sick, wounded, or 
destitute soldiers the comforts or clothing they needed, 
she also gave them counsel, sympathy, and encourage- 
ment, and delighted them with the genial kindness of 

14* 



322 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

her manner. She received the humblest private soldier 
as she would have received the Lieutenant-General, and 
cheered his heart as much by the courtesy of her address 
as by the warmth of her benevolence." 

The flag of the Union Club was displayed in front of 
Mrs. Otis's house, and patriotic airs were played in com- 
pliment to her. She was named queen of the army 
and navy, and her house became a centre of attraction 
for military men. The New England Guard Regiment 
presented her with implements of war from Newbern. 

When Mrs. Otis received her friends, as usual, on the 
Washington anniversary, all Boston seemed delighted to 
pay its respects to her public spirit and loyal devotion. 
Merchants, legislators, lawyers, artists, literary men, 
civil and military dignitaries, and strangers, came to 
acknowledge the credit due to her. At about three 
o'clock the Second Battalion halted in front of her resi- 
dence, and paid her the compliment of a military salute. 
Major Rogers and his officers were invited into the 
house, and Mrs. Otis presented him with a beautiful 
bouquet, while the band played national airs. The 
Mayor and his wife were present, with Governor and 
Mrs. Banks, and many other persons of distinction. In 
the morning, Mrs. Otis was surprised by the gift of a 
richly framed cabinet copy of Stuart's Washington, from 
several gentlemen, who had caused it to be painted for 
the purpose. 

Among the fine oil paintings for Count Schwabe's 
Gallery of Fallen Heroes, is a full-length portrait of 



MRS. HARBISON GRAY OTIS. 323 

Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis. It is the only living person's 
having a place in the gallery. It was procured by the 
Yolunteer Soldiers' Army and Navy Association, and 
presented to the owner of the gallery ; Mrs. Otis's con 
nection with the army and navy, during the late war, 
having created a desire to perpetuate her memory among 
those brave fallen ones, for whom she devoted so much 
labor and money. 

The value and importance of Mrs. Otis's work was 
thus recognized. She won a place in the grateful re- 
membrance of the whole country. It is not saying too 
much to assert, that she did more than any other woman 
in the land for the amelioration of the condition of 
American soldiers in the field. Nor were her kind min- 
istrations confined to Northerners ; she had ever as warm 
a welcome for the humblest of her Southern countrymen. 
How entirely she disregarded what usually is a woman's 
chief consideration, may be seen from the fact that she 
did not purchase a new dress, nor have any made up of 
those presented to her, nor any repaired, during the four 
years that her labors were in requisition. In all, it is 
thought not less than a million of dollars was received 
and expended in money and goods. So glorious a work 
will only be fully appreciated in after times. Mrs. Otis 
will have a place in our history, not only as " in her 
youth the most celebrated belle of her day, but in the 
ripeness of her mature years a true philanthropist, and a 
perfect model of American womanhood." 

This patriotic and self-sacrificing woman, who has 



324 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

also divided, it is said, tens of thousands from her own 
fortune among the soldiers and their families, does not 
find her mission ended. "My life's work," she says, 
" will not be finished so long as I breathe." Since she 
resigned her post in the city, she has been solicited, in 
various places, to give her energies and labors for all 
kinds of projects and plans. In testimony of gratitude 
she has received, from the generals down to the private 
soldiers, an immense variety of relics of the war. She 
resides still in Boston. 



The brother of Mrs. Otis married Miss Emily Mar- 
shal, who has been called the most beautiful woman ever 
seen in the United States. She was accompanied by her 
father on her first visit to Saratoga. The people crowd- 
ed to see her as she alighted from the coach ; and when- 
over she passed from the hotel to her carriage or to the 
steamboat, they would stand in a line on either side, to 
gaze on the vision of surpassing loveliness, to the effect 
of which her gentle and graceful manner added. 

Mrs. Richard Derby, the daughter of a physician in 
Maine, and the wife of a wealthy gentleman of Boston, 
is mentioned as a beautiful and accomplished woman. 
She spent much time in Paris, and was a favorite with 
the last king of France. 

Lydia, the accomplished wife of Hon. E. F. Wallace, 
American consul at Santiago de Cuba, was born and 
educated in Boston. Her responsible position was 



MRS. PRESCOTT. 325 

adorned by tlie attractions that brighten and elevate 
society, and strengthen the influence of a husband dis- 
tinguished for ability and classical scholarship. Her 
correspondence would fill a volume, most interesting to 
readers for its picturesque delineations of novel scenes. 

William H. Prescott, the historian, once pointed out 
to me, in his library, two swords crossed ; one belonging 
to his grandfather, Colonel Prescott, who defended the 
works cannonaded by Captain Linzee, of His Majesty's 
ship-of-war Falcon — the other sword to Captain Linzee. 
Prescott married that officer's grand-daughter. He 
wrote to Miss Preble, in 1845, of his wife: "She is a 
niece of Mr. Kathan Amory, and I do not think your 
sister did her any injustice. At all events, we have 
passed our quarter of a century together, and reached 
our ' silver wedding,' as they say in Germany, without 
as yet finding the truth of La Bruyere's maxim — ' that 
the happiest couple find reason to repent, at least once 
in twenty-four hours, of their condition.' " 

Miss Harriet Preble died in Manchester, near Pitts- 
burgh, in 1S54. She was deemed an ornament to so- 
ciety, and was in no ordinary degree esteemed and 
beloved. She was a niece of Commodore Preble, the 
first commodore of the Revolution. Born in England, 
and passing her childhood and youth in Paris, she 
received her education in the famous institution of 
Madame Campan. Her genius and literary acquire- 
ments were sublimed by ardent piety. In early life she 
became acquainted and associated with most of the lead- 



326 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

ing and most brilliant scholars, and the most distin- 
guished statesmen and writers of France, with whom she 
corresponded after her return to America. In this 
country she was on terms of intimate friendship with 
Ticknor, Prescott, and the most distinguished scholars 
and authors. Her varied mental stores made her con- 
versation delightful to old and young ; and all her gifts, 
with her property and her labors, were consecrated to 
her Redeemer. 



MRS. J. J. CRITTENDEN. 327 



XVI. 

The ancestors of Mrs. Crittenden resided in Albe- 
marVand Goochland comities, Virginia. Her great- 
grandfather, Colonel John Woodson, inherited from his 
father a large landed estate called Dover, on James 
River, in Goochland. He married Dorothea Randolph, 
of Dungeness. One of her sisters was the mother of 
Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United 
States ; another was Mrs. Pleasants, the mother of Gov- 
ernor Pleasants, of Virginia. Her only brother, Thomas 
Mann Randolph, was the heir to the large estate of 
Dungeness. A son of Mr. and Mrs. "Woodson, Josiah, 
married his cousin, Elizabeth Woodson ; and their 
daughter, Mary, in 1801, married Dr. James W. Moss, 
of Albemarle County, Virginia. These latter were the 
parents of Elizabeth Moss, the subject of this brief 
notice. 

After a few years' residence in Goochland, Dr. and 
Mrs. Moss removed to Mason County, Kentucky. There 
Elizabeth was born. Great pains were taken with her 
education,. which in her years of childhood and early 
youth was superintended by Miss Eliza Spencer, a lady 
of English birth. Before the young girl had arrived at 
womanhood, Dr. Moss removed from Kentucky to Mis- 



328 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Bouri, then just admitted as a State into the Union. His 
home was at first in St. Louis, but, after a temporary 
sojourn there, he was attracted to the beautiful and fer- 
tile portion of the State in which the town of Columbia 
is situated. There, in the midst of a small settlement 
of families from Virginia and Kentucky, which at that 
time gave tone and character to the greater part of Cen- 
tral Missouri, Dr. Moss devoted himself to farming 
upon a large scale. Elizabeth, whose accomplishments 
in mind were heightened by the charm of youthful 
beauty, was soon after married to a young physician of 
great promise, Dr. Daniel P. Wilcox. He was a mem- 
ber of the State Legislature, but did not live long to 
serve his State, or to enjoy the happiness promised by 
his union with so lovely a wife. He died, leaving his 
widow with two daughters ;. the eldest of whom, Mary, 
married Mr. Andrew McKinley, the only son of Justice 
McKinley, of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
He was then practicing law in St. Louis with eminent 
ability. 

The youngest, Anna, became the wife of the Hon. E. 
Carrington Cabell, a representative in Congress from 
Florida, the son of the Hon. William Cabell, late Chief 
Justice of Virginia. 

In the autumn of 1832, Mrs. Wilcox was married to 
General William H. Ashley, then the sole representative 
in Congress from Missouri, His residence was in St. 
Louis, where he owned a large estate, and was distin- 
guished for noble integrity of character, and for the be- 



MRS. J. J. CRITTENDEN". 329 

nevolence of an amiable nature. Mrs. Ashley accom- 
panied him to Washington immediately after her mar- 
riage, and at once became the star of general admiration, 
and the centre of a large circle of devoted friends. She 
led the fashion both there and in the summer resorts 
visited by her, without making the least sacrifice to the 
frivolity of a worldly life. Her natural grace and affa- 
bility, the union of dignity and frank cordiality which 
formed the charm of her manner, the intellectual culti- 
vation that enriched and elevated the most unstudied 
flow of conversation, and, above all, the genuine kind- 
ness of her heart, drew around her all who appreciated 
the true sweetness of woman's character, and made her 
truly " a queen " wherever she moved. " The allegiance 
of hearts" was hers by right divine. Many remember 
her at Saratoga ; and the universal praise accorded to 
this charming woman was never mingled with the least 
breath of envy or disparagement. She was one whom 
all " delighted to honor." 

General Ashley died, regretted and lamented, in 
1838. "Widowed, with only the solace of her children's 
society, Mrs. Ashley returned to her peaceful home in 
St. Louis. It was then a suburban residence, built on 
one of the Indian mounds, formerly used as burial-places, 
or forts of defence. The grounds were terraced, and 
ornamented with a variety of shrubbery and flowers, 
while majestic forest-trees here and there gave pleasant 
shade, and improved the beauty of the extensive view. 
Here the little family passed the days in seclusion ; but 



330 QUEENS OF AMERICAN" SOCIETY. 

for the sake of those in whom her affections were bound 
up, and of her circle of attached friends, Mrs. Ashley did 
not refuse all society. Her house was the seat of unos- 
tentatious hospitality, and reunions the more agreeable, 
that they were limited to friends who were interested in 
each other, and had not the ceremony and state belong- 
ing of necessity to the assemblies of the Capital. Mrs. 
Ashley had an object in life that absorbed her cares ; the 
education of her lovely young daughters. To this she 
devoted herself; and when she deemed it necessary to 
give them advantages of instruction, then difficult to 
command in a Western city, she accompanied them to 
Philadelphia. She remained in that city till their 
studies were completed. 

After this was accomplished, and the young ladies 
were able to join Mrs. Ashley, several of her winters 
were passed in Washington. It was with even improved 
beauty, and with matured intellect, and the refinement 
growing out of habitual association with what tends to 
elevate character, that she again appeared in society. 
Her former friends and admirers flocked eagerly about 
her, and her grace and loveliness were the theme of gen- 
eral comment. The resident society of the Capital was 
marked by elegance and refinement, and she was more 
than ever a favorite. Few of her sex could have with- 
stood the allurements of the homage lavished upon her ; 
yet she was unspoiled. Her greatest pleasure always 
consisted in promoting the enjoyment of others. It was 
Jier delight to dispense happiness; and many were her 



MRS. J. J. CRITTENDEN. 331 

opportunities of bringing out merit from obscurity, and 
of placing in the best light qualities that needed but to 
be recognized to win popularity. "With, a tact rarely 
equaled, Mrs. Ashley was ever performing kind offices 
in a way that secured the best results without wounding 
the self-love of those she obliged. It would fill a vol- 
ume to detail the instances in which her liberal aid and 
her cordial kindness forwarded the views and contribu- 
ted to the pleasures of those whom her delicacy caused 
to feel their obligation but lightly. 

She always entered with interest and sympathy into 
the affairs of her young friends ; and it may be conjec- 
tured that they often solicited her counsel and co-opera- 
tion. In every part of the American Union one may 
hear persons of the highest social position speak of her 
with ardent gratitude and affection, and of the many 
kind acts and attentions by which she contributed to 
their benefit or enjoyment while at the seat of Govern- 
ment. It has been remarked, that she was never known 
to speak harshly or censoriously of any one ; nor did she 
ever forget an acquaintance, or wound by any capricious 
change of manner. She was perfectly familiar with all 
the political issues of the day ; but never advocated, as a 
partisan, either side of the question. Always intelligent 
and fluent in conversation, whatever the subject might 
be, she never assumed the slightest superiority by her 
manner, or seemed conscious that her own opinion or 
judgment was better than that of others. This modest 
reticence, notwithstanding the real superiority which 



332 QUEEN'S OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

those who knew her could not fail to acknowledge, was 
manifest in what might be called " a gracious way of 
listening." Many ladies who converse well do not listen 
with attention to persons less gifted than themselves; 
Mrs. Ashley had the faculty of doing so most charming- 
ly. It was a part of the delicate tact springing from a 
disinterested regard for the feelings and the pride of 
others, which, scarcely less than her noble beauty and 
grace, rendered her the ornament of every social circle, 
showing the true dignity, blended with an indulgence for 
the claims of all classes, that won grateful regard while 
it commanded respect. 

The Hon. John J. Crittenden, then Attorney-Gen- 
eral of the United States under Mr. Fillmore's adminis- 
tration, in 1853 won this lady to be bis wife. After the 
retirement of Mr. Crittenden from the Cabinet he was 
returned to the Senate, and continued in Congress till 
his death, in 1863. His history belongs to the country's 
annals. 

Mrs. Crittenden always accompanied him to Wash- 
ington, and remained there while his duties detained 
him. Admiration always followed her. A lady wrote, 
describing a party at Governor Aiken's, in 1857, and 
Mrs. Crittenden's appearance : " Nothing can harmonize 
better than the magnificent dress, ostrich feathers, and 
superb scarf of lace that falls over it with such a gor- 
geous levity. Between the dress and the light folds of 
the scarf, relieved by the one, and half hidden by the 
other, plays a diamond cross of rare beauty. This lady 



MRS. J. J. CRITTENDEN. 333 

possesses more kind feeling than would serve a whole 
clique of the ordinary stamp of fashionables." She is 
again described as wearing " a superb moire antique, of . 
the most delicate pea-green tint, with point-lace bertha." 
And again : " Here was the lady of the distinguished 
Senator from Kentucky, Mrs. Crittenden, with her per- 
fect coiffure and air of society; all the political and 
diplomatic world flocking to compliment and congratu- 
late her on the very able speech of her husband, made in 
the Senate during the day." 

Mrs. Crittenden has more of the unconscious grace 
of repose, which invests one like a spiritual atmosphere, 
than any woman I ever saw. No intelligent person can 
fail to recognize it ; no language can define or describe 
it. It differs from the grace of motion, or of mere form ; 
it is felt as an emanation from the pure and benignant 
soul, whose expression gives beauty its chief and most 
lasting charm. Its influence is magnetic; always as a 
beneficent spell. 

Mrs. Crittenden was in Washington during the 
stormy debates that preceded the outbreak of the Rebel- 
lion; and deeply did she sympathize with her husband 
in his anxious desire to preserve the Union without the 
devastation of war. She wrote, in one of her letters to 
her daughter, in a spirit with which all Northern people 
ought to sympathize : " Our Southern friends have made 
a great mistake — God bless them ! I long to shake 
hands with them and welcome them back." 

It is not often that a lady receives such a tribute as 



334 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

was offered Mrs. Crittenden, in March, at a reception 
given to her in the parlor of the National Hotel. On 
that occasion the following address was presented by Mr. 

Lovejoy : — 

"Mrs. Chittenden : — 

"While the whole nation is paying its tribute of willing and 
abundant honors to the venerable senator whose name you adorg ■ 
and whose home you bless, we, the guests of the National, and 
some of your other numerous friends in Washington, come to pay 
our respects to your many excellencies. 

"We bring no gifts of. gold or silver taken from the cold earth, 
but we offer you the more precious treasures of our hearts — our 
affection, respect, esteem, and admiration. 

" For many years you have held a conspicuous place in the best 
circle of Washington. Your exalted place in society has been 
adorned by grace, dignity, courtesy, and kindness universally mani- 
fested. These constantly flowing streams could have no other 
fountain than a heart full of goodness. 

"It is the testimony of those who have been longest your 
friends, that they have never heard from you a word that could 
wound, nor seen a look that could give pain. Detraction you have 
always scorned; kindness and genial feelings you have cherished. 
You have thus been a nation's benefactress. 

"The names of Cornelia, Portia, Madame Eoland, and Lady 
Holland have become classic in history for their patriotism, high 
social qualities, and domestic virtues. Uniting the patriotism of 
the Eoman matrons to the conjugal devotion of Madame Roland 
and the polished refinement of Lady Holland, your presence has 
diffused a charm wherever known. You have shown us that if 
political life is an ocean with its dark waves and angry storms, 
social life may be a calm, serene lake, reflecting bright images of 
purity and love. 

"The names of Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Madison, and Mrs. Critten- 
den will always shine in the annals of social life in Washington. 

" We pay you the homage of our sincere respect and esteem. 
We take your daguerreotype upon our hearts, and will keep it 
fresh while memory lasts. 



MES. J. J. CRITTENDEN. 335 

" The hand of time has dealt so kindly with you thus far, that 
while you have the health and vigor of middle age, you still retain 
the freshness and vivacity of youth. May that hand still lead you 
gently on, till we all meet you in that better land, where youth is 
perpetual and beauty unfading!" 

After the death of Mr. Crittenden, his widow re- 
mained for a time at Frankfort, Kentucky. She is now 
? "-esident of the City of New York, where her pleasant 
home is shared by the family of her eldest daughter, and 
where she still dispenses the elegant hospitality of one 
who delights in making others happy. 



The graces of Miss Harriet Lane, the niece of Presi- 
dent Buchanan, were mentioned in many journals 
during her domestic presidency at the White House. 
She entertained as a guest the heir to the British throne. 
She was with her uncle in London, in 1855, when he 
was the American Minister. She was described as " a 
stately, high-bred woman, composed and elegant in her 
manners, courtly and graceful in receiving ; in conver- 
sation self-possessed and very cordial. She is rather 
above the middle height, with finely moulded person, 
complexion fair, with delicate color, blue gray eyes, and 
fine brown hair." She was married to Mr. Henry 
Elliott Johnston, and resides in Baltimore. 

An entertainment given at the house of Governor 
Aiken, of South Carolina, in February, 1857, was pro- 
nounced the most brilliant of the season in Washington. 
"The daughter of one of the leading members of the 



836 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Washington Bar, Mr. Fendall, was there; a brilliant 
and versatile belle, who is a privileged wit in society 
here, expected to say what nobody else can say. Her 
face is full of a hundred laughing fancies, and a certain 
careless ease of expression denotes that she is not afraid 
of her own voice, and never hesitates to laugh or retort 
when the impulse is upon her." 

At another party, at Secretary Guthrie's, Miss Windle 
says : — 

" Conspicuous among the belles upon the floor was 
Miss Eliza Morgan, of Kentucky, a queenly looking girl, 
in black velvet and pearls, who walked through the 
figures like an empress at the Cobourg. This lady is 
chaperoned by the wife of the distinguished Senator from 
Kentucky — Mrs. Crittenden." 

" The elegant looking wife of Judge McLean, of the 
Supreme Court, was there, in a gorgeous crimson dress, 
and one of those labyrinths of blonde, feathers, and vel- 
vet, which Madame Delaran says she is obliged to invent 
to appease the ravenous appetite for head-dresses of our 
Washington ladies." 

Mrs. Slideil, the wife of the Senator from Louisiana, 
afterwards conspicuous abroad among ladies devoted to 
the Confederate cause, was described as wearing " a flow- 
ing dress of black velvet, with a superb bandeau of 
pearls, binding down her raven hair like a queen." 

At Greenbriar Springs she was thus noticed : — 

" Mrs. Slideil, of Washington, is here. Every one 
seems anxious to receive the law from her lips on all 



MRS. SLIDELL. 337 

points of fashionable etiquette. Her influence in society 
is remarkable. Were she to appear attired in a tunic 
and zone, the ranks of fashion would swarm with Corde- 
lias and Agrippinas. Were she to discover an eighth 
deadly sin in the vulgarity of robust health, chicken 
broth would suffice pour tout potage. Should she favor 
the fine arts, throngs of upper-tendom would bid for pic- 
tures they did not want, and statues they did not appre- 
ciate." 

Mrs. Slidell was Miss Dalond, of Louisiana. Her 
home was on the Mississippi coast. She appeared at 
an entertainment given in January, 1857, at Secretary 
McClelland's :— 

" We recognized the brilliant teeth and radiant 
smile of the lady of the Senator from Louisiana. Encir- 
cling her plainly parted hair shone a circlet of diamonds 
which might have been the ransom of a Great Mogul. 
The charm of this lady's conversation, seems irresistible. 
There is an animation, a fascination in it, which we 
have rarely known equaled. The peculiarity of her 
phraseology, the ' abandon ' with which she speaks, the 
grace of her gestures, excite a perpetual interest, and 
leave such a delightful impression, that all seem perfectly 
ready to do every thing reasonable and unreasonable 
that she may request." 

At Governor Brown's ball given in January, 1858 — 

" Mrs. Slidell appeared in a Russian court-dress. It 
consisted of a coquettish crimson velvet cap, trimmed 
with rich lace and ostrich feathers, and black velvet 



333 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

dress, the little jacket of wliicli was trimmed with gray 
fur of the most light and aerial description." This lady 
has met with much attention in Paris. 

The wife of Senator A. G. Brown, of Mississippi, 
" was in a superb crimson moire antique, with point-lace 
trimmings. This lady's high-bred air gives great dignity 
to her appearance, while her hands and arms are those 
of a statue. She is universally beloved in our city." 

Miss Wmdle wrote : — 

"One of the most brilliant entertainments ever given in our 
city came off at the residence of the Postmaster-General, Hon. 
A. V. Brown, of Tennessee. He married a sister of General Pil- 
low. The company composed the elite of "Washington. The 
almost regal ball-room, a spacious and lofty apartment to the left 
of the entrance-hall, was lined with superb mirrors, extending from 
floor to ceiling, and divested of furniture to make room for the 
dancers. In the drawing-rooms opposite those who declined 
(lancing might retire, and find cushioned lounges, chairs of any 
angle of inclination suggested by the fancy of elegance and ease, 
and jardinieres bright with flowers from the hot-house of the 
Executive mansion. In the center of these rooms stand the host, 
hostess, and daughter, receiving the guests. 

"Mrs. Brown, an elegant-looking woman, is dressed in rose- 
colored brocade, with an exquisite resemblance of lace stamped in 
white velvet on either side; a point-lace cape, a head-dress of 
fleecy whiteness, with a few ornaments tastefully arranged, com- 
pleted her attire. But it is the lovely girl by her side we wish to 
draw your attention to, as she receives the salutations of her moth- 
er's guests. A white tissue embroidered in moss rosebuds, a circlet 
of pearls on her hair, and natural flowers on her bosom, present an 
appropriate and beautiful contrast to her mother's more elaborate 
and gorgeous toilet. 

"The charm of Miss Sanders is her simplicity of character — of 
all qualities the most acceptable in the highly artificial society of 
"Washington. This sweet girl performs on the harp beautifully, 



BELLES IN WASHINGTON. 339 

with arms as white as those Venus might have lifted above the 
sea-foam, and little pink-tipped fingers, so delicate and taper that 
one feels that it is marvelous how they can pinch the cords so as 
to produce such full-sounding, pleasant notes as they do. Young, 
lovely, and an heiress, like Elizabeth of old, whichever way she 
turns, people will assume an attitude of devotion. Her fortune 
will insure her suitors of various countries. 

"At about nine o'clock, the guests passed from the heated ball- 
room into the cool interior of the supper-room. In the center of 
the table stood a monster bouquet, composed entirely of japonicas 
and the rarest hot-house flowers, and reaching half way to the 
ceiling. Among the ornaments of the table was one which elicited 
general admiration. It was the exact imitation of a mammoth 
'nest,' containing two harnessed swans, driven by a man. This 
ornament was made of the finest sugar, and spotlessly white. 

"But here comes a lady with a regal look more remarkable in 
her than heauty. Rubies would well become her princely port 
and stately head, crowned with a braid of profuse black hair. This 
is a daughter of Duff Green. She was Margaret Green, who mar- 
ried Andrew Calhoun. 

"Again we see Mrs. A. V. Brown, in a rich blue satin dress, 
superb flowers of point-lace — lace which a Pope, in his highest 
day of festival, might have coveted. But it is not on her richness 
of dress or her personal beauty that our pen delights to dwell when 
referring to tins inestimable woman. We would like to speak of 
the personal qualities of one of the noblest and best of her sex — 
one who, as a mother, wife, and friend, stands, we think, without 
a rival. The women of Tennessee may well feel proud of her, for 
she reflects credit upon that noble State, and is rich in qualities of 
heart that truly place her above the majority of her sex." 

At a party at Lord Napier's, April, 1S58 — 

" One guest was strikingly conspicuous — -a daughter of Captain 
Dahlgren, of the Navy. She was a slender girl, exquisitely grace- 
ful, with a lovely coral mouth, eyes of the softest, meekest violet, 
and a face shaded with long golden ringlets, like floating rays of 
sunshine. It was her first appearance in society, and she was sim- 
ply dressed in white, witli natural flowers on her bosom, so purely, 



340 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

freshly beatitiful, that they were fit emblems of the one they 
adorned. By general acclamation, she was pronounced the love- 
liest of that brilliant crowd, and as such was selected by Lady 
Napier to open the festivities of the evening. 

" Mrs. Pringle, of Charleston, appeared in a robe of very elegant 
material, the flounces edged with lemon-colored velvet." I remem- 
ber the results of Mrs. Julius Pringle's fine taste and historical 
knowledge, in some splendid tableaux at a fancy ball given at Mrs. 
Roper's, in Charleston, South Carolina. In accuracy of costume 
and striking effect those tableaux could not be surpassed. She was 
noted for artistic skill in such matters. 

One of the most brilliant and intellectual women in 
the South was the wife of Mr. Duval, a planter from 
Louisiana, and son of the former Chief Justice of Mary- 
land. Her sister, a beautiful girl from Natchez, was the 
belle of the White Sulphur Springs in the summer of 
1S57. 

Among the "social queens" of the late Confederate 
Court in Richmond, Virginia, Mrs. James Chestnut, of 
Camden, South Carolina, Mrs. Davis, and Mrs. Clement 
Clay have been mentioned as eminent for culture, wit, 
and colloquial powers. They won the admiration of 
foreign visitors, as well as the Southern people who had 
long known them. 

In Baltimore, Mrs. Jleverdy Johnson has long been 
prominent as a leader in society. She was very beauti- 
ful and queenly, and helped to advance the fortunes of 
her husband, as well as to train her daughters in every 
accomplishment. 

Mrs. Douglas, the widow of the senator — a cele- 
brated beauty — was long the pride of Washington 



PROMINENT LADIES. 341 

society. She has a second time entered the matrimonial 
state — the wife of Colonel Williams. 

Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines has been at drill rent times 
prominent in society at "Washington; but i.cr life has 
been filled with too much of struggle and suffering to 
leave her much leisure. Her name is familiar to every 
one, and her romantic history is generally known. A 
full memoir of her life, occupying a large volume, is, we 
understand, in preparation. The history of her claim to 
her father's estates, — prosecuted under various discou- 
ragements for thirty-five years, — and of the judicial pro- 
ceedings in regard to the claim, will hereafter be 
considered one of the most extraordinary, as well as the 
most interesting, in the annals of American jurispru- 
dence. 

Miss Lucy Crittenden, the sister of the great senator, 
possessed superior intellect, and had extensive social 
influence. Her husband, Judge Thornton, was member 
of Congress from Alabama : and the first land commis- 
sioner in California. Her residence is in San Francisco. 



342 QUEENS OF AMEKICAN SOCIETY. 



XVII. 

Among the daughters of our country who have been 
distinguished in social life, a few have aimed at some- 
thing above the mere triumphs of fashion, devoting their 
energies to make their homes a paradise and diffuse a 
happy influence on all around them. Of these, each has 
created for herself a distinct sphere of usefulness and be- 
nevolence. Mrs. White's peculiar charitable enterprise 
deserves special mention. Her method of realizing large 
benefits was almost a novelty in America, when her 
splendid success called forth on every side a spirit of 
generous emulation. Yet much as she has achieved for 
charity in these public undertakings, as well as in the 
thousand unknown instances in which she has been 
Mercy's angel to the poor and afflicted, what she has 
accomplished beneath her own roof, in the education of 
her children and the management of her household, 
ought to be still more widely known. At the risk of 
invading the privacy of domestic life while describing 
the woman of the world, we may hold up to admiration 
the wife, the mother, and the friend, justified by the ob- 
ject in view, to show the beneficent and extending effects 
of home education. 

The grandfather of Rhoda Elizabeth Waterman was 



MRS. JAMES W. WHITE. 343 

one of three brothers, two of whom served as officers in 
the Revolutionary army. General Waterman, her father, 
one of the earliest settlers of Binghamton, New York, 
was a prominent lawyer, and, as such, was among the 
legislators who revised the laws and statutes of New 
York, in 1829. Her mother was the daughter of Gen- 
eral Whitney, a wealthy landowner, distinguished as well 
for his sterling principles and high character as for his 
patriotism, hospitality, and public spirit. 

Many venerable and respected persons of the olden 
time speak with heartfelt praise of General Waterman 
and his admirable wife, and describe their spacious and 
comfortable mansion at Binghamton as the abode of 
elegance and hospitality. Mrs. Waterman elevated all 
who came habitually within her reach, while training 
her children with jealous care for lives of exemplary 
usefulness. Hers was a rare and exceptional excellence. 
Brought up by such a mother, and gifted by nature with 
uncommon qualities of mind and heart, and graces of 
person, Rhoda Waterman, at a very early age, was ad- 
mired alike by the old and the young. 

The following letter from Daniel S. Dickinson speaks 
of one accomplishment of her girlhood, which has been a 
great charm in her home and in company : — 



" BrNGHAMTON, December 1, 1859. 

" My dear Mrs. White : 

" Twenty-eight years since, this month, I came to reside in 
Binghamton, and the first Sabbath of my residence was deeply 
impressed with the funeral service and ceremonies of the Episcopal 
Church upon the death of Mrs. James McKinny. 



341 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

"My attention was turned to the gallery by the rich, plaintive 
tones of a sweet female voice, rising above the choir and the organ 
in the 'Dying Christian' — '0 Grave, where is thy victory? O 
Death, where is thy sting?' 

"I inquired, and learned that the singer was a daughter of 
General Waterman, yet in her early and happy girlhood. 

" Since then, I have passed from early manhood to age ; have 
reared children and committed them to the dust; have stood 
amongst the honored of the land, and mingled in all the conflicts of 
life : but the notes of that heavenly song yet dwell upon my ear. 

a That you may live long to cheer and bless those who love 
you, and to adorn society ; and when it shall please a beneficent 
Providence to call you home, that you may experience the tri- 
umphs you sang so beautifully, is the prayer of one who is 

"Sincerely yours, 

"Daniel S. Dickinson." 

At the date of the above letter, the lady to whom it 
was written had become the mother of children who 
adorned her home with the virtues and accomplishments 
that reward the fondest parent's most devoted love and 
unremitting labor. Mr. Dickinson, while visiting that 
home, could hear in the exquisite voices of the oldest 
daughters the echo of that which had " dwelt upon his 
ear" so many years. 

At a very early age Miss Waterman became the wife 
of James W. White, a young lawyer of Irish birth and 
parentage, born in the County Limerick, and a nephew 
of Gerald Griffin, author of " The Collegians." He was 
of an excellent family, noted for the virtues as well as 
the talents of its members, and must have been distin- 
guished by uncommon qualities to have won a prize 
coveted by many suitors of wealth and distinction. 



MRS. JAMES W. WHITE. o-±."> 

The young couple took up their residence in the city 
of New York in 1834 ; and from that time Mrs. "White 
made her home so bright and so attractive, that it has 
ever been the favorite resort of the refined and the 
youthful, as well as of the afflicted. We owe it to the 
mothers and daughters of our land to reveal some of the 
hidden causes which have made "Castle Comfort" (so 
the family and their friends delight to call her house) an 
enchanted abode, as well to its inmates as to all who are 
brought, even for the space of an hour, within Mrs. 
White's charmed circle. The good we mean to do by 
this revelation must plead our excuse for it with this 
estimable lady. From her own accomplished mother 
she early learned the science, not only of the most admi- 
rable domestic economy, but of increasing, day after day, 
the happiness of her husband, her children, and her ser- 
vants. Possessing the unbounded confidence of her 
husband, and devoted heart and mind to the purpose 
of affording him, beneath his own roof, all elevating 
pleasures, and that repose of every faculty needed by 
a lawyer after his hard mental toil, his wife never, 
from, her bridal day, relaxed her efforts to render his 
evenings delightful, and with the ever varying devices 
of womanly affection to keep his soul young and his 
heart fresh and full of its early happiness. Mrs. White, 
from the first, considered it her most sacred duty to God 
and to her husband to deepen, purify, and increase, in 
her own heart and in his, the conjugal affection which 
bound them together, and which she prized as Heaven's 



343 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

best gift. And God blessed the effort. Through storm 
and through sunshine, amid the severe and protracted 
trials with which Providence visits His best beloved ser- 
vants, when sickness came and death snatched rudely 
away some one of the lovely children that bloomed 
around the doting parents, — no bereavement, no in- 
jury of fortune or injustice of men, ever could dim the 
sunny brightness of that home, nor stop the flow of that 
warm tide of love. To the stranger or the friend it was a 
touching and instructive spectacle to see these happy 
parents, so youthful in spirit, surrounded by their chil- 
dren and grandchildren, — as keen for the enjoyment of 
song, and dance, and tale, and joke, as the youngest and 
blithest in the circle. One was reminded of those beau- 
tiful trees growing amid the eternal spring-tide of the 
valley of Mexico, and covered the whole year round with 
unfading verdure, and the opening blossom side by side 
with the ripe mellow fruit. 

In this blissful home, created by superior virtue and 
talent, the mistress delighted to dispense the courtesies 
and kind offices of true hospitality, — her own sunny and 
genial temper lending them a new charm, while her 
finished education and varied attainments rendered her 
conversation delightful, and enabled her to afford con- 
tinual enjoyment to visitors of the most refined taste and 
intellect. It may be said of her, as of another of her 
sex, " to know her well was itself a liberal education." 
She alone was the teacher of her children. Certain 
hours of the day were set apart for study and instruction, 



MRS. JAMES W. WHITE. 347 

with which she permitted no engagement to interfere. 
In the higher branches, and in music — for which they 
had extraordinary talent — she gave them lessons and 
carefully superintended their practice, allowing them the 
assistance of masters in foreign languages. Idolizing 
their mother as they did, they needed no stimulus but 
her love and their own keen appetite for knowledge. 
Thus her devotedness and their own loving zeal for 
study were rewarded by uncommon proficiency on their 
part, — every one of them laying the foundation of a solid 
education, to which were added all the accomplishments 
that embellish social life. " To what school do you send 
your children V was frequently asked by those who 
wondered at their progress. 

With the careful training of their minds Mrs. White 
combined a diligent and happy tutoring of the heart; 
and not rarely were their domestic pleasures made to 
develope the affections as well as the mental powers. 
Home festivals on birth-nights, or on the return of ab- 
sent members of the family, were frequently given, with 
private operatic or dramatic performances by the chil- 
dren, dressed in appropriate costume — the drawing-room 
decorated with garlands and floral mottoes. Short moral 
plays, written by the mother, were frequently acted by 
the little ones ; and their musical parts were sustained to 
the admiration of the friends who listened. Three of 
the daughters possessed voices of extraordinary purity 
and power, and, with the excellent instruction they had 
received were capable of the highest vocal perform- 



343 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

ances. Nor, while thus mingling with graceful and 
natural ease with the gifted and eminent in society, who 
came to their mother's receptions, were these children 
permitted to neglect the culture of any useful art or 
acquirement. 

A friend who happened to visit the family, after a 
long absence and severe mental trials, could not help 
repeating to himself the sweet lines of Jean Ingelow: — 

" There was once a nest in a hollow : 
Down in the mosses and knot-grass pressed, 
Poft and warm, and full to the brim — 
Vetches leaned o'er it purple and dim, 

With butter-cup buds to follow. 
I pray you bear my song of a nest, 

For it is not long: 
Tou shall never light, in a summer quest, 

The bushes among — 
Shall never light on a prouder sitter, 

A fairer nestful, nor ever know 
- A softer sound than their tender twitter, 

That wind-like did come and go." 

Never indeed was " a prouder sitter " than she whose 
heart had made that nest so warm, and had reared into 
the maturity of all moral and intellectual excellence 
such a numerous brood. She sought on earth no other 
reward, and that was not denied her. 

Mrs. While's untiring activity was not confined to 
the education of her children, the management of her 
household, and the entertainment of her numerous rela- 
tives and friends. Even when burdened with the care 
of a large young family, her thirst for doing good con- 
stantly led her to seek out among the poorest classes of 



MRS. JAMES W. WHITE. 3-iO 

the New York population, and in the most wretched 
haunts, the objects of her sympathy. And many an 
anecdote is still related of the personal risks she ran 
while thus endeavoring to reclaim the fallen or to succor 
the needy. 

A soul like hers, gifted with an enlightened and 
tender piety, and not unacquainted with the bitterest 
pangs of suffering, could not but attract the afflicted 
and feel attracted towards them. She knew them to be 
dearest to the Saviour's heart, and such they ever were 
to herself and her children. Her daughters, partaking 
of their mother's piety, shared also her every good work 
undertaken for the poor. 

In 1853, in conjunction with the writer of this 
volume, she arranged a private concert at jSTiblo's Saloon 
m aid of a charitable institution, at which Madame 
Sontag sang, and which proved " the great fashionable 
event of the season," and the most successful entertain- 
ment of the kind ever given in the city. In 1856, Mrs. 
White was solicited by the Sisters of Charity to use her 
influence in obtaining aid for the rebuilding of their 
hospital. A great idea occurred to her, and Archbishop 
Hughes approved her design. A meeting of the ladies 
representing the different Catholic Churches was called; 
but they were appalled at the daring plan, and were 
sure no possible success could repay the outlay necessary 
for a fair held in the Crystal Palace. Almost a storm 
of opposition greeted the proposal ; but Mrs. White was 



350 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

determined to carry through, her scheme, and alone 
assumed the direction of matters. 

Four hundred ladies, representing thirty-one churches, 
were engaged, and their work was assigned to them. 
Their disapproval was manifest, even to the day of the 
opening; the tide, however, soon turned. The vast 
edifice was lighted from the dome, and the flags of many 
nations draped its alcoves. An immense variety of 
foreign goods were exhibited. The ladies in attendance 
were in full dress, and each department was picturesquely 
decorated, presenting a scene of unrivaled magnificence. 
The whole area was dazzling in its gorgeous beauty. 

As the crowd poured in the first evening, and friends 
thronged to congratulate the queen of the occasion, she 
was affected even to tears. The amount cleared by this 
" Great Charity Fair " was thirty-four thousand dollars, 
a splendid memorial of the indomitable energy, practical 
wisdom, and noble zeal of her who had been the soul of 
the enterprise. This was, moreover, the first Ladies' 
Fair that had obtained a brilliant success, and the 
largest — except the subsequent Union Sanitary Fair (in 
1864) — ever given in the United States. Visitors flocked 
from different cities, curious to see it ; and plans for 
similar enterprises, inferior in extent, were discussed in 
other communities. 

At the close of the Fair, the sisters begged Mrs. 
White's acceptance of a massive silver epergne, as a mark 
of their gratitude. But she declined the gift, persuading 
them to dispose of it for the benefit of the hospital. 



MRS. JAMES W. WHITE. 351 

It was not surprising that one who had achieved 
such a triumph, should be beset on all sides with entrea- 
ties to give her influence and energies in support of 
other undertakings. Inventors, teachers, managers of 
charitable institutions, &c, sought to enrol her among 
their patrons ; and more private applications were inces- 
sant. One evening, a starving woman came to beg for 
needle-work, stating that she was the widow of a British 
officer, whose death had left her destitute, with a son ten 
months old ; a deafness resulting from illness preventing 
her from making use of her education as a means of 
support. To help this poor woman, Mrs. "White gave 
the first private charity soiree ever given in New York, 
and realized enough to take and furnish a room, and 
provide the widow with a sewing-machine, by which she 
afterwards gained a comfortable living. 

In 1859, Mrs. White was president of an association 
for getting up a large fair in aid of the Sisters of Mercy. 
This was held in the Academy of Music. One of Mrs. 
White's contributions was a massive volume bound in 
velvet and gold, valued at twenty-five hundred dollars, 
of the rarest and most precious autographs ever collected. 
The book was drawn in a lottery, after a goodly sum had 
been raised by the sale of tickets; and the fortunate 
drawer presented it to the original donor. The Pope 
had been solicited for his autograph; but, replying 
through his secretary, he preferred to contribute a 
splendid stone cameo set in gold. 

Of the amount of labor required to fill this book 



352 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

with its valuable array of autographs, no one who has 
not tried the experiment can form any conception. The 
following letter from Archbishop Hughes is suggestive 
in more than one way : — 

"New Toek, April 9, 1859. 

" My dear Mrs. White : 

. . . " I must congratulate you on this one thing, that in your 
projects for aiding the charity you imitate nobody. Your plan 
may be successful ; but, after a first successful experiment, it can 
never be repeated with success. I know your idea would be to 
have autographs of the few great living men, such as kings, empe- 
rors, prime ministers, &c, &c. These, I fear, it will be difficult, if 
not impossible, to obtain. 

" Our ministers plenipotentiary are respected at the different 
courts of Europe on account of the prepotency of the United States 
which they represent. But, to my own knowledge, they are, as a 
general rule, held in personal contempt. They would not, there- 
fore, be able to obtain the signatures of the European courts to 
which they are accredited. And, knowing the state of the case as 
I know it, I should be afraid to solicit from them any autograph, 
except it might be of distinguished individuals apart from court 

circles I know the fastidious etiquette of European 

courts; and if there be any chance for such autographs, it must 
be in consequence of a letter from yourself, written as you will 
know how to write it, to our ministers and representatives. You 
may succeed as a lady, but I could not as an archbishop, except by 
the merest chance. 

. . . '' Besides, I will ransack further all Bishop Brute's papers, 
and furnish you with such autographs as you may judge of interest 
for your book. 

" I remain, 

"Very sincerely, your friend and servant in Christ, 

"»J> John, Archbishop of New York. 1 ' 

One would be led to judge that these repeated labors 
for public or private charities, and the temptation to 




ft Ml Q T 



MRS. JAMES W. WHITE. 353 

external activity begotten by public triumphs, must have 
interfered sadly with the duties of domestic life, or ren- 
dered the repose of home a little irksome. It was not 
so, however, in this case. Mrs. "White all the while con- 
tinued to superintend with unrelaxed assiduity the ad- 
vanced education of her children ; studying with them, 
and making herself their companion as well as instruct- 
ress. She was continually in their midst, perfecting 
herself in some already familiar branch of knowledge, 
or pursuing some new one with all the ardor of youth — 
hearing the lessons of her youngest girl, encouraging, by 
her presence and advice, the higher studies of her mar- 
ried daughters, and then giving herself up to her own 
appointed hours for self-improvement. All these studies 
were sanctified by the spirit of prayer, and made delight- 
ful by the sunny smile and. loving words of the mother, 
as well as by the cheerful eagerness of those whom she 
thus trained by word and example. An hour every day 
was set apart for religious reading and devotional exer- 
cises. The spirit of generosity derived from the lofty 
views inculcated by their mother, not only led the chil- 
dren to apply with alacrity to their advancement in 
knowledge, but to seize and seek every opportunity of 
performing acts of self-denial for the benefit of others. 
This was made a governing principle of their conduct 
towards each other, and hence the continual and touch- 
in «; foro-etfulness of self in the endeavors of each one to 
make all the others happy. Hence, too, their readiness 
ever to disregard present suffering or personal discom- 



354 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

fort, where an effort on their part may be required, or 
may help to enliven the company in which they find 
themselves, or to advance any public or private good. 

~No opportunity was lost of impressing these golden 
rules of life on their minds. Few mothers, indeed, un- 
derstand as she did the importance of detail and illustra- 
tion in recommending Christian duties. It is one thing 
to inculcate them by theory, and another to point out 
the way to practice them. With the mother's self-sacri- 
ficing devotion and earnest perseverance in duty, she 
showed the habitual cheerfulness and serenity of soul 
and temper on whose ever equal surface no interior 
trouble or external tempest could produce a single 
ripple. This perpetual calm in her manner, and the 
bright smile she ever wore in the most trying circum- 
stances, had a better effect on the young spirits around 
her than a thousand homilies. Besides, the house was 
always neat, and resounding with pleasant voices ; the 
household (as we have said) managed to perfection ; 
the indefatigable spirit and strictly disciplined energies 
always pressed into the service of duty ; the warm 
atmosphere of affection filling the home thus made the 
happiest spot on earth. Could it then be wondered, not 
that husband and children should " rise up and call her 
blessed," but that to them, one and all, a single night 
spent outside of such a home should appear a privation 
hard to bear ? 

Home parties and amusements of all kinds were en- 
couraged. On several occasions concerts, and an entire 



MES. JAMES W. WHITE. 355 

opera, were performed without professional assistance ; 
many of the spectators possessing high musical culture, 
and all charmed with the wonderful artistic skill of the 
sons and daughters, who owed to the mother their rare 
attainments. I do not know of another instance of such 
an operatic performance in a private drawing-room as 
was arranged and prepared by Mrs. John Mack, one of 
the daughters, and in which she and other members of 
the family took the parts. It was universally voted a 
perfect success. 

How, with this unwearied and all-absorbing activity, 
has Mrs. White found leisure to write books, or to keep 
up an immense correspondence by letters? Yet she has 
done both. She is the author of two popular works 
of fiction : " Portraits of my Married Friends " and 
" Mary Staunton ;" both successful, but not to be here 
discussed. 

A romantic instance of the ingenious benevolence of 

this lady's daughters was the experience of Kate De , 

a beautiful young Irish girl who lived in their family, 
and who, being wedded above her station, returned, 
after her husband's death, to his family abroad. She 
was only able to read and sign her name, and too much 
ashamed of her ignorance to be willing to betray it to 
her proud connections. She sought aid from the three 
eldest daughters of Mrs. White. Though separated by 
the Atlantic from her, they educated her entirely by 
letter, instructing her thoroughly in the common English 
branches, and writing out an entire grammar, geogra ' 



356 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

phy, and arithmetic adapted to her comprehension and 
use. These she could understand, but not the simplest 
school-books ; and under this training she became a well- 
educated woman. 

Mrs. White has had an extensive correspondence 
with the learned, the gifted, and the distinguished in 
this country and in Europe. She may well be called 
"the Sevigne of the United States." Archbishop Ken- 
rick of Baltimore and Archbishop Hughes were her cor- 
respondents and intimate friends; so also were many of 
our statesmen, and not a few generals prominent in the 
late war. President Lincoln corresponded with her. 
Her influence is extensive as the Union, and over the 
finest minds in the country. Her eldest son, General 
Frank White, had a military career, and won a renown 
the bravest could envy. At the time when the Tenth 
Regiment, New York Zouaves, took their departure for 
Fortress Monroe, they marched to the residence of Mrs. 
White, in Fifth Avenue, where they were presented with 
a regimental flag by Miss Nettie White, with a charm- 
ing address to the soldiers. 

The eldest daughter married, in 1862, Senor Don 
Bernardino del Bal, and in June, 1863, left New York 
for their distant home in Santiago de Yeraguas, in the 
State of Panama. On returning from the steamer which 
bore away her idolized child, the heroic mother, with 
her heart yet agonized with the parting, and her eyes 
still streaming with tears, accompanied her second 
daughter, Ellen, to the Convent of the Sacred Heart, 



MRS. JAMES W. WHITE. 357 

and gave her up that very hour to the home she had 
chosen for herself among the Brides of the Lamb. 

On her arrival at Santiago, Senora del Bal set to 
work to enlighten, elevate, and refine the numerous and 
long-neglected population, which unceasing civil strife 
and all its demoralizing influences had reduced to a sad 
state of spiritual destitution. In Santiago, besides find- 
ing every place of worship closed by the tyrannical 
decrees of that odious usurper and despot, Mosquera, she 
saw the Indian and colored people deprived of every 
chance of religious or mental culture. She put into exe- 
cution every means which her experience, ingenuity, and 
zeal could suggest to remedv these evils, and obtain for 

Do v ' 

her labors the sympathy and co-operation of the wealthy 
and educated. It would be hard to say by whom the 
young and delicate stranger is most looked up to and 
most revered, the native Indian and colored people in 
town and country, or the proud, sensitive, and quick- 
witted Spaniards. She has equally benefited both : the 
latter by her superior and enlightened piety, by the 
graces and virtues with which she adorns her home and 
her conduct ; the former by making her blessed influence 
felt far and wide, in Sunday-schools established by her, 
in hospitals, at the sick-bed of the plague-stricken, as 
well as in the remotest and most wretched hovel where 
extreme want or extreme suffering called for her pre- 
sence. Everywhere she is hailed as a ministering angel, 
and bishop and priests and people, the high and the 
lowly alike, sound the praises and bless the name of the 



'SoS QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

sweet American lady, " La Nina Jenny," as they delight 
to call her in their heartfelt gratitude. 

Mrs. White performed an important part in the 
great Fair for the Orphans' Protectorate of New York, 
in 1867. Presents from General Grant, Colonel P. G. 
Washington, Colonel James A. Hamilton, Chief Justice 
Chase, and many other personal friends, adorned her 
table. One splendid set of Magelica ware was the gift 
of the Marchioness of Londonderry, who has been for 
years the friend and correspondent of Mrs. White. 

Thus does the current of that life of devotedness gain 
depth and width and strength as it approaches the ocean, 
diffusing, as it goes onward, a still wider beneficence. 
None of life's painful experiences — and the saddest of all, 
in the death of her husband, has fallen upon her as these 
lines are printed — have chilled the warm heart where 
Christian faith and love are ruling principles. Pier noble 
deeds are a bright example for her countrywomen ; the 
sweet poem of her life illustrating the truth of the Hues : — 

" We need not go abroad for stones to build 
Our monumental glory ; every soul 
Has in it the material for its temple." 



On the 5th of February, 1854, two charitable ladies 
who were conspicuous in the best society of New Tork 
were conversing together of the great suffering among 
the poor. One of them, Mrs. Thomas Addis Emmet, 
who had long been a manager of the Marion Street 



MRS. DUBOIS. 859 

Lying-in Asylum, spoke feelingly of the miseries of 
neglected infants, and of mothers compelled . by poverty 
to give the children of the rich the nourishment intended 
by nature for their own. She mentioned an instance of 
a nurse weeping over her charge, to think what comforts 
she was enjoying in a good home, while her own child, 
to whom she could not attend, was exposed to unknown 
sufferings. One who pitied her distress, going to see 
after her child, stood at night in a small, dirty basement 
room, by the bed of a sick woman, who replied to her 
questioning : " My baby died yesterday of small-pox." 
— " And where is the nurse-baby ?" asked the visitor. 
" Oh, if it's that you want, here it is," said the woman, 
leaning over and drawing from under her bed a basket 
of soiled clothes, among which lay the forlorn infant. 
The visitor took off its rags, wrapped it in her shawl, 
took it home, bathed and dressed it, sent for a physician, 
and, by the Divine blessing, saved it from death. This 
incident, related with the eloquence of Christian feeling, 
gave rise to the first conception of an institution which 
soon became an honor to New York. In a few weeks 
ten thousand dollars were subscribed, and in less than a 
month from the first inception of the idea, the " Nursery 
for the Children of Poor Women" was organized and 
chartered. Before this refuge was provided, Mrs. Du- 
bois, the lady to whose energetic efforts it owed its 
exist?nce, had been in the habit of looking up the poor 
children of wet nurses among her circle of friends, and, 
until rooms could be provided for them, of giving them 



380 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

shelter in her own beautiful house on Gramercy Park. 
The building soon became so full that more extensive 
accommodations were required. This was the first at- 
tempt made in New York, or the country, to provide an 
asylum for the shelter and care of infants. The first 
idea was to form an asylum for the children of wet 
nurses, or those otherwise deprived of a mother's care ; 
and for the daily charge of those little ones whose 
mothers were obliged to labor away from their own 
homes to gain a subsistence. When it was found that 
the institution had been commenced on too small a scale, 
applications were made both to the State Legislature 
and to the city authorities for assistance; and the result 
was a grant from the city of a perpetual lease of a plot 
of ground one hundred and forty feet wide, and one 
hundred feet deep ; while the State gave ten thousand 
dollars towards the erection of a suitable building. 

The necessity of a " Child's Hospital" became appa- 
rent; and on application to the Legislature in March, 
1857, an act was passed changing the name of the Insti- 
tution to " The Nursery and Child's Hospital." A new 
building was erected in 1858, and the funds necessary for 
the support of the charity which voluntary contributions 
did not supply were raised year after year by public 
entertainments given by the lady managers at the Aca- 
demy of Music. Thus the Institution was linked with 
associations of fashionable amusement. Not long after- 
wards another noble charity was added to this — a Found- 
ling Hospital for the admission of illegitimate children 



MRS. DUBOIS. 361 

whose mothers were previously of good character. In 
December, 1865, it was leased to the "Nursery" as a 
Lying-in Asylum — a place for the reception of young 
women who had borne irreproachable characters till 
overtaken by one fault, and who had no other refuge. 
The three institutions are now blended, and under the 
care of the same directress, Mrs. Cornelius Dubois, who 
had given up the triumphs of fashionable life to have her 
time and her heart engrossed by the claims of this cha- 
rity. She has made it so popular among the leading 
ladies of the metropolis that the Institution is generally 
regarded as a favorite with them. The most gorgeous 
public balls given at the Academy of Music under their 
patronage have been for its benefit; and at many con- 
certs for the same object, year after year, those ladies 
have contributed by their amateur singing and instru- 
mental music. 

Mrs. Dubois was Miss Delafield. She has also been 
distinguished for her skill in sculpture and cameo-cut- 
ting. Her works in this line have been mentioned with 
high praise.* 

Another noble charity to which the most distin- 
guished ladies of New York gave their co-operation, and 
in aid of which many brilliant entertainments were 
given, was that for the benefit of the soldiers' orphans. 
A later one, which has enlisted the warmest feelings of 
sympathy, is the " Southern Relief Association," appeal- 



* See " Women Artists in all Ages and Countries." 
1G 



a >> 



QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 



ing for aid to the suffering women and children of the 
South. No public charity has ever been so popular. 
The winter of 1S66-67 was crowded with amusements 
for it, and it is believed that none have been so unfeel- 
ing as to oppose its triumphs. 



Mrs. Emmet is the widow of Thomas Addis Emmet, 
the son of the distinguished Irish patriot, and a lawyer 
of high standing in New York. She is the daughter of 
John Tom, one of the tirm of Iloyt and Tom, noted East 
India merchants. Mrs. Emmet was an admired leader 
in the best social circles of the metropolis, as a youthful 
matron, and her influence was most useful in promoting 
public and private charities. She was the devoted bene- 
factress of the poor, to whom she gave the time that 
could be spared from the cares of a large family. Their 
residence was a beautiful estate on Fifty-ninth Street, 
between the old Boston Post-road and Third Avenue. 
There was an elegant mansion, with extensive grounds 
and gardens, and a private cricket-ground. A fete was 
given there in 1844, which created a great sensation. 
For seventeen years Mr. Emmet's family lived at this 
beautiful country-seat, till the advancing city encroached 
upon it. Then they removed to New York. 



MRS. RUSH. 363 



XVIII. 

It is not often that a celebrity which may he called 
historical is gained by leadership in the fashionable 
circles of a large city without beanty or attractive per- 
sonal qualities, and without association with any great 
social event or institution. Such was the celebrity of 
Mrs. Rush in Philadelphia. Her attainment of pre- 
eminence in spite of many disadvantages argues rare 
powers of intellect. She was Ann Ridgway, the daugh- 
ter of Jacob Ridgway, who rivaled Girard in the acquisi- 
tion of great wealth by commercial pursuits. Ann was 
born in Philadelphia, and inherited a goodly share of 
her father's fortune. Her income was a large one for 
that day ; her husband having also an independent prop- 
erty. Her education was completed in Europe, where 
she spent several years, and acquired more than the 
usual share of accomplishments then deemed essential to 
a lady. In those days mental culture was more thorough 
than at present, if the facilities were less. Miss Ridg- 
way mingled in the best society, and acquired that taste 
for the elegancies of life which was afterwards shown in 
her days of sovereignty over the society of Philadelphia. 
She was married to Dr. James Rush, the son of the 
celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the 



864 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Declaration of Independence, the fame of whose genius 
and scientific attainments spread throughout Europe ; 
whose works were quoted by Lord Byron, and rewarded 
by the first Alexander of Russia. Having his origin in 
such noble intellectual stock, the son maintained the 
celebrity of the name by his original and profound work 
on " The Philosophy of the Human Voice," which has 
furnished material and guidance to so many treatises on 
elocution. 

Though abroad a long time, Mrs. Rush passed most 
of her life in Philadelphia, and did not take the lead in 
social life till her return from Europe. Her latest resi- 
dence was in West Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. The 
building was erected about 1849, and was magnificent 
in its proportions, and the splendor of its internal plan 
and decorations. Here the mistress of the mansion was 
accustomed to dispense those enlarged hospitalities which 
"have given her an unsurpassed eminence in American 
society." She had a genuine love for the arts, and was 
invariably a liberal and impartial friend to artists of 
every grade. At her weekly receptions it was her de- 
light to assemble them around her, to introduce them to 
persons who might appreciate their talents and promote 
their success ; and not unfrequently to assist them in a 
more direct manner. Her annual balls were magnifi- 
cent ; the drawing-rooms of her house were more spa- 
cious and more sumptuously furnished than those of 
almost any other private residence in Philadelphia, and 
there was unstinted outlay in both the decorations and 



MRS. RUSH. 365 

the entertainment. A gentleman who was her guest, 
described, on one occasion, " her superb dress of Genoa 
velvet and lace, and the exquisite gems that adorned her 
person. Feathers drooped from her hair, and she car- 
ried in her hand a fan made of plumes of the richest dye, 
ornamented with a bird-o£paradise with diamond eyes 
and claws set with rubies." Mrs. Rush always gave her 
visitors a cordial greeting, with unaffected kindliness of 
manner. She was pleased to show her plants and the 
choice flowers in her conservatories. These, as well as 
the halls, dancing saloons, and corridors, were always 
thrown open — and the light, alternately brilliant and 
subdued, the clear, pealing music at intervals, from the 
band playing on the staircase, the company of splendidly 
dressed women, the dancing and promenading through 
the different rooms, the lavish and gorgeous supper, with 
the charming manner and lively conversation of the 
hostess, put the most timid at their ease, and made her 
parties ever agreeable. While she presided thus ovei 
the festive scene, her husband, it was said, often sat 
alone in his library, absorbed in study, or enjoying the 
contrast of perfect quiet with the bewildering gayety of 
the rest of the house. 

Mrs. Rush was, by universal consent, acknowledged 
to be the queen of Philadelphia fashionable society. 
" This community," said a resident, " requires despotism 
to move it from its frigidity. There must be one sove- 
reign — the appointed of fashion, the layer down of law. 
Partly from charity, partly from ambition, this large- 



306 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

hearted and energetic woman took into her own hands 
the reins of government, and has shown herself a second 
Semiramis." It was well for those over whom she 
reigned, that none could say she did not use her power 
with generosity. At the parties given by Mrs. Rush, 
the most prodigal splendor was exhibited in the services 
of china, glass, and gold and silver plate, and in the pro- 
fusion of flowers. Yet in the more strictly artistic 
adornments — such as pictures — there was rather a defi- 
ciency of the best works ; and there were comparatively 
few antiques or articles of vertu. 

A lady who had been entertained in the aristocratic 
circles of Europe, described one of Mrs. Rush's parties as 
excelling any she had seen in sumptuous appointments. 
The tables were set the entire length of the supper-room, 
with cushioned seats of blue damask, and a service of 
the costliest china, for the accommodation of two hun- 
dred and fifty out of the eight hundred guests invited. 
The servants at the foot of the tables, wearing broad 
blue ribbons, interdicted the entrance of more guests at 
a time. The hostess walked through her rooms, wear- 
ing a robe of pompadour velvet, with an under dress of 
white satin covered with lace ; the robe looped with 
marabout feathers and diamonds ; with low corsage. 

Mrs. Rush seemed to consider her parties as a neces- 
sary duty to society, yielding her, however, little gratifi- 
cation. The attractions of intellectual cultivation had 
no play in such crowded reunions. It was a yearly 
sacrifice to fashion. She rarely nave small parties, 



1IHS. RUSH. 367 

except to gentlemen. Besides these annual balls, Mrs. 
Rush had morning receptions every Saturday, when she 
always had something attractive or curious to amuse her 
guests. Sometimes it would be a fashionable tenor; 
sometimes children who recited verses ; and on one occa- 
sion the Aztecs were shown, before they became common 
in public exhibitions. Of course many persons desired 
to attend these parties who were not acquainted with the 
lady, and she was frequently annoyed with applications 
for cards of invitation. An invitation was once taken 
through mistake to a Miss Patterson, a stranger, who 
was advised to accept it. Fancying a degree of coldness 
in the manner of her hostess, Miss Patterson requested a 
friend to inquire if the card had been meant for her, and 
ascertained that it had been intended for a vocalist. 
She insisted on leaving the house, notwithstanding Mrs. 
Rush's request that she would remain. The next day 
an article appeared in the papers stating that Mrs. Rush 
had sent a lady out of her house who had received an 
invitation by mistake. 

These receptions had decidedly a musical character. 
Grisi and Mario were at one, and many celebrated 
artistes who were visiting Philadelphia had here an 
opportunity of being introduced to those who might 
become friends and patrons. Actors of merit were 
welcome as well as vocalists, and those who excelled in 
painting ; yet the assemblages were generally select. 
Attractive ladies were sure of invitations, perhaps that 
they might render the house agreeable to gentlemen ; 



368 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

for Mrs. Rush was well known to have no partiality for 
her own sex. Sometimes she pressed an invitation with 
great kindness ; once ordering a pretty dress sent to a 
South Carolinian lady who had not come prepared with 
a costume suitable for her ball. Yet she would perhaps 
turn coldly in the street from a woman who presumed, 
on an invitation to one of her receptions, to join her in a 
walk. A Philadelphia lady asked for a card for a 
female friend ; it was refused, but permission was ver- 
bally given to bring her. Mrs. Rush was said to be 
tyrannical in social ethics, though indulgent to her 
gentlemen friends. A New York paper called her " one 
of the few relics of the old school." She had steadfast 
ideas of democracy, and was independent enough to carry 
them into her drawing-room. Above all things she had 
a hatred of " snobs." It was a pleasure to her to break 
down conventional distinctions which had no ground in 
reason. Inviting whom she chose to her parties — always 
persons of good character — the son or daughter of the 
tradesman or retailer found a warm welcome to her 
reunions, if known to possess personal worth. This was 
a noble trait of character; and when her inviolable 
fidelity to the few friends she trusted, and her liberal 
charities and many kind acts are placed in the account, 
it must be conceded that hers was a generous nature, 
true, strong, and earnest in its aversion to all meanness 
or falsehood. She always manifested a deep respect for 
intellect ; and it was her reverence for mental gifts and 
culture, and sternly disciplined character, that caused 



MRS. RUSH. 369 

her preference for men. Notwithstanding the endless 
gossip about her with the stronger sex, those who knew 
any thing of her were constrained to admit that her 
intimacy never bordered in the least'on flirtation. She 
had no personal attractions, and never desired admira- 
tion. Her taste for the ornamental seemed to expend 
itself in a passionate love of flowers. Her conservatories 
were something royal. " You ought to be a happy man," 
said a Philadelphia lady to Dr. Rush, when she was 
admiring this floral magnificence. "I have always been 
a happy man," was his reply. 

It was Mrs. Rush's custom to go to Saratoga almost 
every summer. Her example there might well be fol- 
lowed by fashion's votaries, so far as moderation in dress 
was concerned. She took but few dresses ; usually one 
of black silk, one of grenadine, and a poplin for morning 
wear ; and one trunk sufficed her. She always appeared 
in black, reserving her rich colored dresses for home wear 
— and always gave away on her return those she had 
worn at Saratoga. 

The following letter mentions a fancy ball at the 
Springs in August, 1849 : — 

"All around the different wings of the hotel was in a hlaze of 
light, and the company might be seen gathering in costumes before 
the dancing commenced. Turks, flower-girls, Quakers, goddesses, 
nuns, and court ladies, all gracefully and gayly threading their way 
among the crowd, were seen in the porticos of the windows, and 
along the illuminated walks. In the full blaze of the ball-room, 
some of the costumes could not be surpassed for costliness of 
material and exquisite design. Laces delicate as gossamer, and of 
rare value, seemed to take new delicacy from the jewels. Mrs. 
16* 



370 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Kush, of Philadelphia, wore a scarf of rich lace worth its weight 
in — gold will not answer here — its weight in diamonds. The jet 
and jewels upon her bosom seemed absolutely sparkling through a 
wreath of mist." 

On either side of Mrs. Rush at table were always 
seats for gentlemen chosen by herself. When one 
chanced to be vacated by the departure of the friend, 
she selected another occupant, and signified her pleasure 
to the fortunate individual ; always making two condi- 
tions, to which the gentleman was obliged to assent 
before she would name them. Of course he promised 
compliance, sure that the lady would stipulate for noth- 
ing unreasonable. The first promise he was required to 
make, and keep absolutely inviolate, was, that whenever 
he thought proper to order any special delicacy from the 
restaurant, he would never invite Mrs. Kush to partake 
of it. The second was, that whenever she chose to order 
any such dainty, and to offer it to him, he would not 
refuse to accept. These conditions were always insisted 
on, and always observed. At the next meal, the new 
occupant would be formally installed in his place. Mrs. 
Kush often drove to Saratoga Lake and touk dinner, 
inviting one or two favored friends to accompany her. 
The banks of the lake were a favorite walk with her. 
While at the watering-place she did not remit her 
studies, taking a lesson in German and one in music 
nearly every day. When asked why she continued her 
musical practice in this way, while she was never known 
to play in eompany, she replied that she took the lessons 



MRS. RUSH. 371 

in that and German in fulfilment of a promise to a 
deceased friend. She was fond of reading, and a great 
linguist ; and was always exact in properly filling up the 
hours of her day. Much of it was devoted to out-door 
exercise. She walked a great deal ; not only in summer, 
but in winter, without heeding inclemencies of weather. 
Her last ball was given in January, 1857, and was 
of great splendor. It was about six in the morning 
when the last guest had departed, and Dr. and Mrs. 
Rush retired to their rooms, which communicated by a 
door. Mrs. Rush removed her diamonds and left them 
in their caskets on her table, the outer doors of both 
apartments being fastened. It was afternoon when she 
arose and took breakfast. Being still overcome with 
fatigue, both she and her husband went to bed very 
early, and she did not put away her jewels. In the 
night she fancied she heard the door leading from her 
room to Dr. Rush's open or shut ; but, supposing that he 
was passing through, paid no attention to the circum- 
stance, lie too heard the noise, and "wondered what 
Ann was up for," but took no heed of it. At daylight 
the next morning — it was Saturday — Mrs. Rush recol- 
lected that she had not left on the ledge or table outside 
some money for an article she was always accustomed to 
send for to market on that day, and which must be 
purchased very early. She rose and went to her bureau, 
in a drawer of wdiich she had put a thousand dollars in 
gold to pay tradesmen's bills. The money was gone ! 
She opened the jewel caskets; they were empty! She 



372 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

instantly aroused Dr. Rush, who bade her keep still, 
while he examined the doors of the house. All were 
locked ; and the outer hall door was duly fastened. The 
new-fallen snow showed no trace of footsteps. He went 
out and called a detective. By this time the servants 
had risen ; they were called together, informed of the 
robbery, and told they must submit to examination. 
Not a trace of the thief or the booty could be found ; not 
a single fact was elicited whereon to hang suspicion. 
The jewels were valued, it is said, at twenty-one thou- 
sand dollars. The police of Philadelphia did their best, 
but discovered nothing. The matter created a great 
sensation, and was the subject of newspaper comment 
in other cities. The public insisted on suspecting a 
young man who had been a guest at the ball, and soon 
afterwards had gone to New York, and sailed for Eu- 
rope. The impression on the minds of those who remem- 
ber the occurrence still is that this young man was 
guilty ; but Dr. and Mrs. Rush thought otherwise. The 
detective had fancied something suspicious in the man- 
ner of the cook, who was engaged to a jeweler in New 
Orleans, whom she afterwards married. Nothing could 
be proved to justify her arrest; but Mrs. Rush always 
thought it likely that the woman had stolen both the 
money and jewels, entering the chamber at night or 
during her temporary absence the day after the party. 

The summer following this occurrence Mrs. Rush 
was at Saratoga, at the United States Hotel, unaccom- 
panied by her husband. She was detained by indispo- 



MRS. RUSH. 373 

sition after the departure of other guests. A friend 
whose society she had much enjoyed — Mrs. Macgregor, 
of New York — was about to leave Saratoga ; but when 
Mrs. Rush expressed regret at her going, she offered to 
stay with her. Mrs. Rush would not, however, permit 
her to remain on her account. She was not accustomed 
to receive visitors in her chamber, and did not usually 
like being called on when suffering from illness. She 
spoke with her friend as she stood outside the door, and 
begged that she would not stay at the hotel. Her maid, 
she said, was trusty and efficient ; she had no need of 
further care ; she would be well in a day or two. The 
hotel was then nearly empty. Mrs. Macgregor returned 
to her home in New York in some anxiety about Mrs. 
Hush, though not anticipating any danger. Her com- 
plaint was supposed to be erysipelas, followed by a gen- 
eral breaking up of the system. When she did not 
regain strength, Dr. Rush was sent for, and it was still 
hoped that his wife would soon be able to travel home- 
ward. Mrs. Macgregor wrote from New York, inviting 
them to stop and rest a day or two at her house in pass- 
ing through the city. Dr. Rush answered that they 
intended postponing their departure from Saratoga for 
a. few days, to allow Mrs. Rush time to recruit her 
strength ; but that, when able to set out, she would pre- 
fer making the whole journey in one day. It was but a 
few days later that news came of the death of Mrs. Rush, 
at Saratoga, on the 23d October, 1857. 

Her remains were placed in a coffin and conveyed to 



874 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Philadelphia. She was buried according to instructions 
contained in her last will. Her death produced a wide 
sensation in her native city ; saddening the hearts of 
many who remembered how ready her sympathies had 
always been with true merit, and how liberally she had 
dispensed her means for its advancement. She had not 
yet reached a very advanced age, and appeared uninter- 
ruptedly in society till the beginning of her last illness. 

Mrs. Macgregor was Miss Ely, of Connecticut. She 
has been conspicuous for many years in New York 
society. Her receptions at her pleasant home in Wash- 
ington Square, are attended by numerous friends of the 
really choice and elevated spirits, who would not mingle 
with such as had no claim but wealth to their associa- 
tion. She is noted for wit and humor in impromptu 
eifusions. Some of her light sketches have been pub- 
lished by stealth. 

The wife of the great statesman, Daniel Webster, 
was Caroline Le Roy. She was born in New York, and 
married in 1829 to Mr. Webster, who was a widower 
with children. In May, 1839, she went abroad with her 
husband, and was well received at the courts where they 
were presented ; but remained only nine months. They 
passed their winters usually in Washington, and the 
summers in Marshfield, their country-seat on the Massa- 
chusetts coast — that beautiful Marshfield on the ocean 
shore — with Webster's '-herds of noble cattle, his broad 
productive fields, his yachts, his fishing, his rambles in 



MRS. DANIEL WEBSTER. 375 

the forests planted by his own hands, his homely chats 
with neighbors and beloved dependents." He was wont 
to say, " If I could have my own will, never, never 
would I leave Marshfield I" But he was led away, by 
the advice of friends, to the protracted stay in "Washing- 
ton that undermined his health. Mrs. "Webster shared 
his wanderings, and was always a helpmeet to her dis- 
tinguished husband, both in domestic and public affairs. 
She read to him and for him, saving him time and labor 
by culling and arranging such fact3 and ideas as might 
be useful or available ; she assisted him in his extensive 
correspondence, and was relied on by him in all matters 
where sound judgment and discretion were required. 
During his Secretaryship, which began in President 
Tyler's and continued in Fillmore's term, she was his 
efficient aid. At the same time she made his house the 
center of a brilliant society, drawing around them the 
finest spirits of the century, and those of high repute in 
the country's history. In Boston, Mr. "Webster's house 
was in Summer Street ; a noble residence, and the resort 
of the most cultivated society. 

Mrs. Webster accompanied her husband on his cele- 
brated Southern tour; visiting the principal cities and 
towns, where both were welcomed with distinguished 
honors. 

Since her widowhood, Mrs. "Webster has for the most 
part resided in the city of Isew York, though a home 
was offered her in Boston, suited to the style in which 
she had always lived. 



"76 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Mrs. Henry D. Gilpin is the widow of an eminent 
man, and has a ruling influence in the society of Phila- 
delphia. This is due not more to her intellectual supe- 
riority, and her culture in the arts that refine social life, 
than to her noble qualities of heart and true Christian 
benevolence. She is the daughter of Doctor John Sibley, 
a distinguished surgeon, who resided until the close of 
his life in Louisiana, exercising a wide-spread influence 
in that State. She was born in North Carolina, and 
received her education at the well-known school of Mr. 
Mordecai, in Warrenton. Leaving school at an early 
age, she joined her father in Louisiana, and was married 
to the Hon. Josiah S. Johnston, then Judge of the West- 
em District Court of the State. He was elected to the 
House of Representatives, and afterwards, for three 
terms, to the Senate of the United States. As an able 
judge, a distinguished statesman, and leading legislator, 
his fame belongs to his country's history. 

Mr. and Mrs. Johnston resided in "Washington, and 
their house was celebrated for its hospitality. It was 
the resort of the most distinguished persons in the Capi- 
tal, many of whom continued their friendship with Mrs. 
Gilpin through life. The celebrated Edward Livingston 
was not only an associate of Senator Johnston in their 
public career, but a close and intimate friend ; and their 
friendship was never interrupted. Mrs. Livingston, one 
of the most distinguished ladies of society in "Washing- 
ton, survived her husband many years. Mrs. Gilpin 



MRS. HENRY D. GILPIN". 377 

commemorated her talents and virtues in an eloquent 
tribute, full of truth and feeling. 

After some years of widowhood, Mrs. Johnston 
became the wife of Hon. Henry D. Gilpin, at that time 
United States Attorney for the District of Pennsylvania. 
When Mr. Yan Buren was elected President of the 
United States, he induced his friend, Mr. Gilpin, to 
accompany him to "Washington as Solicitor of the Trea- 
sury. Subsequently, the office of the Attorney-General 
of the United States becoming vacant, it was offered to 
and accepted by him. A close and confidential friend- 
ship existed between these gentlemen, which continued 
without interruption through life. 

Some years after the return of Mr. and Mrs. Gilpin 
to Philadelphia they accompanied Mr. Yan Buren and 
his son to Europe.* In London they were received with 
marked attention. Mr. Gilpin soon became associated 
with the most distinguished literary men, his own repu- 
tation having preceded him. Numerous " breakfasts " 
were given to him, where he met persons of congenial 
tastes, and largely extended his acquaintance. Mr. 
Joseph R. Ingersoll, so well known and honored in 
Philadelphia, was at that time Minister to England. 
By him, a personal friend, they were received with 
great kindness, and through him were presented at 
Court. 

Among their earliest visitors in London was Mr. 

* A journal kept by Mrs. Gilpin while abroad, to which the writer has 
had access, furnishes the facts mentioned here. 



378 QUEEN? OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

George Peabody, who extended to them every courtesy 
as friends, and as visitors to the great metropolis. Mr. 
Peabody was then as well known for his hospitalities 
to his countrymen as he has since become to the whole 
world by his noble acts of munificence. 

The first entertainment given to Mr. Yan Buren and 
Mr. and Mrs. Gilpin was a brilliant assembly at the 
American Minister's ; the second, a dinner by Mr. Pea- 
body. Among the distinguished guests assembled on this 
occasion, were Mr. Gurney, brother of the celebrated 
Mrs. Fry, and his accomplished daughter Lady Buxton, 
and Lady John Somerset, whom they afterwards met in 
society in London. Subsequently they received nume- 
rous invitations to dine with persons of distinction ; 
among others, from Lord and Lady Ashburton, at Bath 
House, a noble mansion, celebrated for its fine collection 
of pictures and statuary. Here they had the gratifica- 
tion of meeting many of the distinguished literary men 
and nobility of England ; Mr. and Mrs. Monckton 
Miines, Mr. Carlyle, Mr. Kinglake, author of Eothen, 
Mr. Thackeray, and others. From a large dinner-party 
at Mr. Hume's (member of Parliament), Mr. and Mrs. 
Gilpin, with other guests, attended a ball at Bucking- 
ham Palace, to which, by command of the Queen, they 
had had the honor of being invited. Among the hos- 
pitalities extended to them were those of Mr. and Mrs. 
Cobden, Mr. and Mrs. Bright, Mr. and Mrs. Grote, Sir 
Charles and Lady Fellows, and Miss Burdett Coutts, the 
hitter receiving them at her beautiful villa, Holly Lodge, 



MRS. HENRY D. GILPIN. 379 

near London. One of the greatest gratifications they 
experienced while in England was their visit to the an- 
cestral homes of Mr. Gilpin's family, to Kentmere, where 
Barnard Gilpin, called " the Apostle of the North," was 
born (three hundred years ago), and to Scaleby Castle, a 
few miles from the Scottish border, now occupied by one 

^of the family. After visiting the most interesting places 
in England and Scotland, Mr. and Mrs. Gilpin made an 
extensive tour on the Continent ; visiting the principal 
capitals, and seeing every thing of interest to strangers. 
They passed Holy Week in Borne, and had two inter- 
views with the Pope ; the second by his own appoint- 
ment, when he received them in his library. 

Among numerous hospitalities offered to them in 
Rome, were those by the Prince and Princess Doria 
Pamphili, through a letter of introduction given to them 
in London by Lady John Somerset, a relative of Prin- 
cess Doria. In the magnificent Doria Palace they had 
ample opportunity for examining the galleries, celebra- 
ted as containing one of the richest collections of Art in 

. Europe. 

From Naples Mr. and Mrs. Gilpin embarked for the 
East ; ascending the Nile as far as Thebes, and spending 
three months among the great monuments of antiquity. 
From the top of the great pyramid of Cheops they be- 
held the valley of the Nile, with its picturesque groups 
of camels with their Arab drivers, and groves of waving 
palm-trees. Afterwards they visited Asia Minor, Tur- 
key, and Greece, with some of the Grecian isles. At 



380 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Athens they remained several weeks, where they were 
much interested in the Mission Schools of Mr. and Mrs. 
Hill and Dr. King. They there formed the particular 
acquaintance of the late Earl of Carlisle, with whom Mr. 
Gilpin made frequent excursions into the interior of 
Greece. Their friendly relations were interrupted only 
by death. On their return to England Mr. and Mrs. 
Gilpin were invited by Lord Carlisle to visit him at 
Castle Howard, where they found assembled many of 
the distinguished members of his family ; among them 
his aged mother, whose death, some years after, was 
communicated to Mrs. Gilpin by Lord Carlisle, in a let- 
ter touchingly evincing his reverence and filial love. 

Mrs. Gilpin's residence in Philadelphia is the resort 
of all distinguished strangers. Artists and connoisseurs 
are especially welcomed, and find material for the grati- 
fication of their taste in the works of art collected with 
so much care in Europe, which occupy one floor of the 
dwelling. The library of Mr. Gilpin is, perhaps, the 
largest private collection in America. It includes the 
best selection of books in the English and foreign lan- 
guages, the classical portion being particularly rich. 
This library was left by Mr. Gilpin for the use of his 
wife during her life, and bequeathed to the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania at her death ; the works of art 
were left to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 
in Philadelphia, to which collection Mrs. Gilpin has 
desired that the portraits of Mr. Gilpin and herself shall 
be added. 



MRS. HENRY D. GILPIN. 381 

Mr. Gilpin died in 1SG0. His accomplished widow- 
prepared and printed for circulation among her friends 
a memorial volume of his useful life and public services, 
including various tributes to his memory from eminent 
statesmen and scholars at home and abroad, with letters 
of condolence and friendship to herself. The monument 
which Mrs. Gilpin has erected to the memory of her 
husband is a noble work of art. 

Her sympathy in the misfortunes of others induced 
Mrs. Gilpin to take a prominent part in the great Sani- 
tary Fair of Philadelphia. She was appointed chairman 
of the Ladies' Art Committee, by which department alone 
was realized thirty-five thousand dollars. 

Mrs. Gilpin, in resuming the hospitalities of her 
house, has been liberal in her welcome to the lovers of 
art and literature. Accustomed herself to these high 
and pure enjoyments, she has sought to give the same 
pleasure to others. Music by the best amateur perform- 
ers is always a marked feature of her entertainments (as 
dancing is never introduced). Her receptions have a 
more elevated character than those of mere fashion. 
Her private charities are active and incessant, and she 
gives her personal attention to many whose sufferings 
require the solace of friendship and sympathy. 



382 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 



XIX. 

Charlotte Augusta Southwick was the daughter of 
Jonathan Southwick, a successful merchant of New 
York, who accumulated a large fortune in business, 
though he died at the age of thirty-five. The ancestors 
of the family — the Worthingtons and Elys — were promi- 
nent at an early period of Colonial history. A curious 
relic preserved is a heavy gold seal-ring, antique in 
pattern, and engraved with three fleurs de-lis ; said to 
have been presented by Charles IX. to one of the ances- 
tors of the Ely family, with instructions that it should 
always be worn by one of the descendants of the name 
of Robert. It is still so held. Richard Ely came first 
to America about 1600, and settled at Lyme in Connec- 
ticut. John Ely was a colonel in the Revolutionary 
army and a surgeon of great celebrity. His military 
career was detailed in the statement of the Committee 
on Revolutionary Claims to the House of Representa- 
tives, in 1853. In 1777, he was commandant of Fort 
Trumbull, his regiment having been raised by his own 
exertions and at his own expense entirely fitted out. His 
wife was Sarah Worthington, a great beauty, and the 
daughter of Rev. William Worthington, brother to 
another colonel of the American army. Mary, her 



MRS. COVENTRY WADDELL. 383 

sister, also a distinguished beauty, married the father of 
John Cotton Smith, Governor of Connecticut, the ances- 
tor of the eloquent Rector of Ascension Church in New 
York. Samuel Goodrich (" Peter Parley ") was a grand- 
son of Sarah Worthington. These sisters were descended 
from Hugh "Worthington, who held the Lordship of 
Worthington under Edward IV., in 1474. Some of the 
family afterwards intermarried with the descendants of 
Awley O'Farrell, remembered as the last king of Cora- 
merene, in 1207. The eldest son of John and Sarah 
Worthington was Worthington Ely, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch. He was also a surgeon and a 
colonel in the Revolutionary army, having graduated at 
Yale College in 1780. It is said that at the age of 
twenty he captured two British officers, and retained 
them as hostages till he obtained the release of his father, 
then in the enemy's hands. At the end of the war, 
finding his resources crippled, he resumed the medical 
practice, and settled on the Hudson, near Albany. His 
wife was Miss Buslmell, of Connecticut. Their young- 
est daughter, Lucretia, was the mother of Mrs. Waddell. 
At a very early age, Miss Southwick was sent to 
Mrs. WillarcFs school at Troy, where she went through a 
thorough course of education. Soon after leaving school 
she was married to Mr. McMurray, who lived but a few 
months, leaving her a widow at the age of eighteen. She 
afterwards married Mr. William Coventry Waddell. 
He is connected with noble English families, being 
directly descended from Lord Daubeney, of the time of 



334 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Henry VII., 1185,* and from the earls of Coventry. He 
has kept up an interesting correspondence with the 
representatives of these families in England. Possessing 
high literary attainments, Mr. Waddell had held many 
important trusts under government, and was at that 
time in an official position, and possessed of wealth. 
Their residence was fixed in New York. Mr. "Waddell 
built a splendid mansion at the corner of Fifth Avenue 
and Thirty-seventh Street. "Murray Hill," with its 
grounds, occupied an entire block. It was a Gothic villa, 
with tower, and large conservatory ; the grounds were 
laid out in walks and divided by hedges, and vines were 
trained along the walls. From the broad marble hall a 
winding staircase ascended to the tower, whence a view 
of the city, the river, and distant hills could be obtained. 
The picture-gallery, well stored with valuable paintings, 
always attracted the attention of visitors. In the winter 
of 1845, several lots had been put into a wheat-field by 
the gardener, so remote was the place from the city. 
For twelve years Mr. and Mrs. Waddell lived in this 
delightful villa, while the city gradually approached 
nearer to their home. The winters were passed here, 
while the summers were spent at Saratoga, where the 
remarkable beauty of Mrs. Waddell, her graceful man- 
ners, her good-humor and winning kindness of heart, 
and the intellectual charms of her brilliant conversation, 

* See Burke's Dormant Peerage. That Lord Daubeney was in the 
direct line from William de Albini (1168), eldest grandson of the standard- 
bearer of William the Conqueror. 



liltS. COVENTRY WADDELL. 385 

gave her indisputable supremacy in social circles. It 
was in her power to give happiness to those around her 
by her ample means for promoting enjoyment, and she 
took pleasure in doing so. Her parties in the winter, at 
" Murray Hill," were the admiration of the New York 
fashionables ; and one might be always sure of meeting 
there any really worthy celebrity. When the frigate 
"Prince of Orange" came to the United States, Mrs. 
Waddell gave the Dutch officers a ball ; and the decora- 
tions of her rooms and conservatory were magnificent. 
The lights in the tower, seen through stained windows, 
had a very fine effect. Sir William Boyd, in his' work 
on America, wrote : — 

"One esteemed friend I can neither omit nor fail to praise; 
charming in person, elegant and amiable in manner, considerate 
and kind in disposition, she honors the Fifth Avenue by her resi- 
dence. So perfectly did her style of beauty resemble that of a 
lovely English woman, that, in the well-bred though liberal hospi- 
tality of her house, an Englishman could forget that three thousand 
miles separated him from his own dear country." 

At Saratoga, in August, 1849, she was thus described 
in papers of the day : — 

"Mrs. Tvaddell, of New York, was generally admired. A com- 
plexion pure and brilliant as the roses and lilies of childhood, large 
blue eyes, sparkling with vivacity, and lips always rosy with smiles, 
well became the superb dress of 'a bride.' A veil of exquisite lace 
fell from a tiara of pearls that confined her bright brown ringlets; 
a string of large pearls on the neck, a cross of brilliants on the 
bosom, diamonds twinkling on her arms and amid the folds of a 
superb lace dress, completed a costume distinguished for its costli- 
ness, its cloud-like purity, and that exquisite adaptation to the per- 
son which so few understand." 
17 



386 QUEENS OF AMEKICAN SOCIETY. 

One morning, at Saratoga, she came late to the 
breakfast-table, where Washington Irving and J. P. 
Kennedy were seated. " Here comes Aurora !" said 
Mr. Irving, gayly. Mrs. Waddell ashed him if he 
spelled it with an "A," or an "E." He laughed hearti- 
ly, and said her question was the best joke he had heard 
in a long time. 

A visitor wrote : — 

" On Thursday, the hall of the season took place at Mrs. "Wad- 
dell's Gothic villa on Murray Hill, Fifth Avenue. The beauty of 
the house, its corridors and halls, its towers and oriels, gave an 
attraction with which other establishments cannot vie ; while the 
affability of the fair hostess, and the occasion — the debut in society 
of a daughter of Mr. Waddell — added to the interest. We noted 
a greater array of city fashionables than we have seen gathered 
together this season ; and, as is usual at this lady's parties, every 
one appeared to enjoy it. The beautiful conservatory was thrown 
open, and the flowers, the bay-windows, the winding stair-way 
through the towers, the oriels, the corbels, the tapestries, the music, 
the ball, the supper, the fair hostess, and the concourse of gallant 
knights, could not well be surpassed. There were about five hun- 
dred present. Mr. Brown the guard's arrangements were excellent, 
especially the fine large tent he erected to keep off the night air 
between the carriage-drive and the hall-door." 

At a masquerade ball, given in College Place, by 
Mrs. John C. Stevens — 

"Mrs. Waddell wore, in the early part of the evening, a black 
mask and domino; afterwards, white satin trimmed with rich black 
lace, with corsage of diamonds, and flowers in her hair. This lady, 
from her agreeable and affable manners, commanded much atten- 
tion, and received the flattering encomiums of a large circle of ad- 
mirers. Mrs. Waddell, at her villa, 'took up' the bed poudro of 
Mrs. Stevens, when that lady was compelled to relinquish it at her 
residence, ill consequence of a death in her family. At Mrs. Sober- 



MRS. COVENTRY WADDELL. 387 

merhorn's bal costume de rigueur of the reign of Louis XV., a jour- 
nal reported Mrs. Waddell's dress as Marie Antoinette, ' crimson 
moire antique, jupe flowered with point-lace. The Louis Quinze 
brocade trimmed with point-lace ; the corsage ornamented with 
diamonds, and rose de Chine ribbon, fluted ; powdered head, 
wreathed with diamonds.' " 

Tributes of a higher kind were not wanting to this 
accomplished lady, as the following letter will show. It 
was elicited by Mrs. Waddell's sending a basket of fruit 
from her conservatories to the distinguished author : — 

"United States Hotel, Saratoga, August 2, 1853. 

"My Dear Mrs. "Waddell: — 

"Had it pleased the gods to make me poetical, what a choice 
copy of verses your most dainty present would have inspired ! I 
should have wrought out some capital similitudes to yourself in 
the choice fruits of which it consisted. I should have made some- 
thing of the peach with its damask cheek and nectared sweetness; 
of the grape, with its potent power to lead the senses captive, and 
'make glad the heart of man.' But having no gift of weaving 
immortal verse, I can only make my acknowledgments of your 
kindness in humbler prose, which is the more sincere for not being 
labored into rhyme or turned into couplets. 
" Believe me, very truly, 

" Your obliged and admiring friend, 

"Washington Irving. 
"Mrs. Coventry "Waddell." 

Here is a fragment from one of many tributary 
poems : — 

"Let Dryden sing divine Cecilia's days, 

And Alexander's Feast in verse be sounded ; 
Be mine a greater glory still to praise 

The queen whose conquests yet no world hath bounded. 
He wept for worlds to conquer ; thou beguilest 

Realms which he never knew, thy sway to greet ; 
He wept for other conquests ; thou but smilest, 

And all the world lies vanquished at thy feet." 



388 QUEEN'S OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

The foil >wing is another specimen : — 

" Clarendon, Friday, January 28th. 
''Dear Madam: — 

"My friend, Mr. , who has just returned from London 

(where lie was your Secretary of Legation, and danced in a most 
distinguished manner at our court and other balls), ought surely to 
see a beautiful ball at New York, and I shall be very thankful if 
you will favor me with a card for him. I am so glad that I shall 
be in New York on the night of your party, and that you kindly 
remembered that I wanted to see it. 

" Believe me very faithfully yours, 

"W.M. Thaokebat." 

Mr. Thackeray first saw Mrs. Waddell at a party, 
and as she came into the room exclaimed, " Who is that 
lady !" expressing astonishment at her beauty. After 
his introduction, while looking at some paintings, he 
remarked to Mrs. Waddell : " You should have sat to 
Sir Peter."' She replied that she did not admire Sir 
Peter Lely's pictures. Thackeray pretended, laughingly, 
that he had meant Eubens. A few days afterwards, 
while walking with Mrs. Waddell through her gallery, 
he remarked : " I still think, Mrs. Waddell, you should 
have sat to Sir Peter. None of these do you justice." 
Thackeray, during his stay in the United States, became 
a frequent visitor and a warm friend of Mrs. Waddeli. 

Her plr.yful wit was sometimes exercised in reprov- 
ing ill-breeding, but in a kindly way. A bigoted Eng- 
lish nobleman, well known in fashionable circles (as 
something of a bore), who detested every thing xlmeri- 
can, and ridiculed the celebration of the Fourth of July, 



MRS. COVENTRY WADDELL. 389 

was kept firing off rockets on that anniversary till lie 
was tired out, by his fair hostess. 

In the monetary crisis of 1S57, Mr. "Waddell lost a 
splendid fortune. His reverses compelled him to sacri- 
fice his home on Murray Hill ; the house, grounds, and 
furniture were sold, and the march of " improvement" 
has now effaced every trace of the once beautiful villa ; 
covering the site with stately brown stone houses. Mrs. 
Waddell submitted cheerfully to this change, and smiled 
as she read the notes of sympathy and regret sent by her 
neighbors. In Charles O' Conor's words: "In bending 
so gracefully and cheerfully to adverse circumstances, 
she won more laurels than were gained in prosperity.' 1 
When, after removing from the house, she took posses- 
sion of her rooms at the St. Denis Hotel, she found them 
filled with bouquets and baskets of flowers; welcome 
offerings, as delicate expressions of kindly feeling from 
those who had known her in the sunshine of affluence. 
After a few months, she retired to a country home upon 
the Hudson, two miles north of Newburgh. A tourist 
thus describes it : — 

"A large stone mansion, wreathed with ivy, stands on an ele- 
vation overlooking the majestic landscape. It is the residence of 
Mr. and Mrs. Waddell. Her exquisite taste has already beautified 
the place, supplied by nature with every requisite for adornment ; 
and her cheerful spirit makes it a paradise indeed. Those who 
visit her in her rural home will find her as charming as in her 
princely suburban residence. The pearly freshness and delicate 
rose-tint of her complexion, and the luxuriance of her rich brown 
curls, have not been impaired by the air of the Highlands; while 
the ease and grace imparted by perfect culture, mental accomplish- 



890 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

ments, and familiarity with the best society, are blended with the 
most winning frankness and elastic gayety of spirits, and with a 
genuine cordiality which, emanating from true kindness of heart, 
cannot fail of the response of heartfelt admiration and regard." 

After living a few years among the mountains, Mr. 
and Mrs. "Waddell returned to the city of New York ; 
but her taste for flowers and fresh rural scenery could 
not be satisfied without a suburban residence. A neat 
ornamental one has been built, under her directions, at 
'* West End," on the (proposed) grand Boulevard drive 
in course of being laid out by the Central Park Commis- 
sioners upon the northern part of Manhattan Island, a 
short distance above the unrivaled " Central Park." 

Mary "Wharton was born in Philadelphia, and be- 
came a celebrated belle in that city, being one of the 
most beautiful women in America. She was married 
when very young to James S. Wadsworth, who became 
a distinguished general in the Union army, and lost his 
life in the service of his country. He was the son of 
James Wadsworth, and the nephew of the bachelor, 
General Wadsworth, who was conspicuous in the war of 
1812. Mrs. Wadsworth went with her husband to Eu- 
rope for a bridal trip, and remained abroad nearly a 
year. Their home was then in Genesco, New York, 
where the summers were spent ; the winters being 
passed in different cities. During a few years they 
retained a house in New York ; afterwards in Philadel- 
phia. Mrs. Wadsworth had six children. Her daugh- 
ter Cornelia married Montgomery Ritchie, a grandson 



MISS EMLLTE SCHAUMBURG. 391 

of the elder Harrison Gray Otis. She was noted as a 
belle in New York, of a brilliant and stylish beauty ; 
with dark hair and large, full dark eyes. She lived in 
Geneseo with her parents during Mr. Ritchie's life ; in 
the widowhood of her mother passing most of her time 
with her. After her husband's death, Mrs. Ritchie went 
to England, and resides in London. Mrs. "Wadsworth 
lives in Philadelphia, but spends her summers at her 
favorite country home. Her sister-in-law was Miss Eliza- 
beth Wadsworth, who married Hon. Charles Augustus 
Murray, and died in Egypt. 



Miss Emilie Schaumburg is a Philadelphia celebrity 
in society, who has added the fascinations of rare skill in 
vocal music, and still rarer powers of dramatic expres- 
sion as an amateur comedienne, to the attraction of 
great beauty. Her grandfather, Colonel Bartholomew 
Schaumburg, of New Orleans, was a ward of the Land- 
grave of Hesse Cassel, and closely connected with him. 
Educated under the auspices of Frederick the Great, at 
the German Military School, he was commissioned an 
officer in the Grenadier Guards, and at the time of the 
American Revolution was sent to this country as adju- 
tant and aid-de-camp to General Count Donop, who, in 
conjunction with General Kniphausen, commanded the 
German forces subsidized to England. Colonel Schaum- 
burg never joined Count Donop, however ; for the trans- 
port ship upon which he and other officers and soldiers 



392 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

had embarked, became separated from the fleet in a 
storm, off the American coast, and came np the Dela- 
ware, anchoring at Newcastle, where they learned from 
the people the nature of their struggle for independence, 
and that General Washington was at no great distance, 
on the Brandywine, daily expecting an attack from the 
British forces under Cornwallis. Preferring to fight for 
an oppressed people rather than for England, with whom 
they had no sympathy, they determined to join him, 
which they did, and were incorporated into General 
Sullivan's German Legion, serving under General "Wash- 
ington throughout the Revolutionary War. Colonel 
Schaumburg also served with great gallantry through 
all the early Indian wars, under Generals Wayne and 
Sinclair, and afterwards held the rank of Deputy 
Quartermaster-General during the war of 1812. The 
site of Cincinnati was chosen under his direction ; and, 
as an accomplished artillerist, he superintended the cast- 
ing of the first cannon ever made in the United States. 
Colonel Schaumburg had sacrificed his title and much 
of his property by espousing the American cause, but 
some years later he was earnestly solicited by his rela- 
tives to return to Germany, which he unhesitatingly 
refused to do. He married a lady who was a lineal 
descendant of the principal Indian chief or king Secane, 
of the Leanape tribe, who signed the treaty of 1085 with 
William Penn, selling him .the large tract of land in 
which Philadelphia is situated. Su-sa-he-na, his daugh- 
ter, had been married to Dr. Thomas Holme McFarlane, 



MISS EMILIE SCHAUMBURG-. 803 

a nephew of Thomas Holme, the first Surveyor-General 
of Pennsylvania. Miss Schaumburg is the eighth re- 
move, in a direct line, from this aboriginal princess, and 
was born in New Orleans, although she has always re- 
sided in Philadelphia. From childhood, her great 
musical talent was evident, united to a voice of uncom- 
mon power, purity, and sweetness. Its natural advan- 
tages have been fully developed by the late Signor 
Perelli, who considered her his most brilliant scholar ; 
and she combines the finest dramatic appreciation with 
the most remarkable compass and execution. The 
"soirees" inusicales at her residence gather together all 
that Philadelphia society affords of most elegant and 
most accomplished. The earlier portion of her educa- 
tion was chiefly directed by the late Hon. II. D. Gilpin, 
one of the most elegant scholars of America ; and she 
has had all the advantages in cultivation which his mag- 
nificent library can afford. She has added the accom- 
plishment of speaking several modern languages. She 
has also a graceful gift of versification, frequently, 
though unpretendingly, exercised for the entertainment 
of her immediate circle. 

Miss Schaumburg's appearance in the first social 
circles was followed by general admiration. When the 
Prince of Wales with his suite visited Philadelphia, he 
spent the only evening of his stay at the Academy of 
Music. He saw Miss Schaumburg in another box, and 
his attention was at once attracted by her beauty. She 

was dressed with simplicity, in white, with gold orna- 

17* 



'694: QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

ments in her hair. The lorgnettes of the royal party 
were turned in her direction long enough to show the 
whole house the object of their admiration. The Prince 
declared her " the most beautiful woman he had seen in 
America." 

Her great dramatic talent was first developed during 
the patriotic exertions made for the Sanitary Fair. A 
number of gifted and energetic ladies and gentlemen fit- 
ted up a little private theater, to hold about three hundred 
persons, the performers to be all amateurs, selected from 
among the elite of Philadelphia society, and the proceeds 
to be devoted exclusively to the wounded soldiers. The 
enterprise was eminently successful in a financial view ; 
and it also proved Philadelphia unsurpassed in the pos- 
session of amateur talent. Many plays were brought 
out, but " The Ladies' Battle,' 1 in which Miss Schaum- 
burg sustained the principal role of the " Countess," took 
society by storm. Those who witnessed that exquisite 
rendition, combining the most perfect grace and high- 
bred elegance with the most delicate shades of emotion, 
remember it as a piece of acting unrivaled on the Ameri- 
can stage. A year or two later, the comedy of " Masks 
and Faces" was produced by the same association, for 
the benefit of the Chicago Fair, under the immediate 
supervision of Mrs. Aubrey H. Smith, a daughter of 
Judge Grier, of the Supreme Court, and a lady noted for 
her vivacity, energy, and spirit. Miss Schaumburg sus- 
tained in this the great role of " Peg WofHngton," and 
again created a furore. It seemed difficult, indeed, to 



MISS. EMILIE SCHAUMBURG. 895 

decide iu which she most excelled — the dash and bril- 
liancy, or the pathos and emotion of the impulsive, 
warm-hearted, and fascinating Peg ; whilst her Irish 
'•jig" was inimitable in its spirit, lightness, and grace. 
The play altogether was so superbly put upon the stage 
of the little theater, or " Amateur Drawing-room," as it 
is called, and so admirably rendered in each of its parts, 
by gentlemen and ladies of cultivation, that to those 
who witnessed it, all professional performances of it since 
have suffered by comparison. A melodrama, called 
"The Wife's Secret" — in which Miss Schaumburg sus- 
tained the role of "Lady Evelyn" — was afterwards pro- 
duced, with great eclat, at the " Drawing-room," for 
charitable purposes. In this — probably the most trying 
role ever attempted by any lady amateur — Miss Schaum- 
burg achieved fresh laurels. Madame Ristori, who was 
then in Philadelphia, and who witnessed one of the per- 
formances, expressed herself surprised and delighted at 
the genius of the brilliant amateur. So remarkable a 
talent should be frequently exerted in the noble cause 
of charity ; and as it is becoming more and more the 
fashion for ladies in private life to exercise their gifts for 
the benefit of the poor, it is to be hoped that Miss 
Schaumburg may be induced to contribute her aid to 
them in other cities than her own. 



896 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 



XX. 

" The most charming woman in the world." 
The phrase has often been carelessly used, under a 
fleeting impression. But when deliberately and uni- 
versally applied to one person by all who know her, it 
acquires a significance deeper than common. Madame 
Le Vert is perhaps the only woman who has reigned as 
a belle in both hemispheres, — has received the homage of 
chivalrous admiration, alike in the Northern and South- 
ern sections of the United States, as well as in the courtly 
circles of Great Britain and Continental Europe, and 
who, at the same time, has never been assailed by the 
shafts of envy or calumny. She has had a remarkable 
experience in wearing the crown of beauty and genius, 
— that it has been without a thorn. Such an anomaly 
argues an uncommon character. To receive tributes 
from the lowly and the exalted, the humble and the 
gifted, the obscure and the brilliant, all breathing the 
same heart-incense, is something remarkable. Calhoun 
called her "the gifted daughter of the South." Irving 
said of her : " She is such a woman as occurs but once in 
the course of an empire." Another eminent author said : 
" There is but one such in America." Miss Bremer 



MADAME LE VEET. 397 

named her "ber Magnolia Flower of the South," and 
" Sweet Rose of Florida." A distinguished writer said : 
" I defy any one to spend an hour in her company with- 
out rising up a wiser and better man, having a sense of 
musical joyance in his heart, because of her words." La- 
martine said to her : " You can fill with pleasure the 
hearts of your nation by describing what you have seen 
to them, as you are now delighting me." She is more 
widely known as a "social genius" than any American 
woman ; for her fame has spread from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific, and in various countries beyond the seas. 
A key to this extraordinary popularity may be found in 
the observation of a little child, who whispered, after 
sitting by her, " She isn't a fine lady at all ; she is just 
like me; and I love her." This is her specific charm; 
the spirit of love that goes out from a great and good 
heart, and meets everywhere response and recognition. 
The adulation received from every quarter could not 
mar a nature so gifted with good sense, simplicity, and 
earnestness. Living in the sunshine of fashionable life, 
and distinguished by the smiles of the fickle goddess, she 
never lost her tender humanity; always proving herself 
as genial as gay, as sweet and courteous as brilliant ; as 
true and appreciative as fascinating. She was always 
" a social harmonizer." Her sunny spirit was like a 
stream 

; ' In whose calm depths the beautiful and pure 
Alone are mirrored." 

'•She was made without antipathies," says one of her 



393 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

friends. " She receives, as it were by intuition, the idea 
of the ancient Greeks, that the whole universe is a 
'Kosmos' of beauty and order." The world has smiled 
on her, because she was gracious to the world, and she 
has faith in the goodness of human nature. She has 
never, it is said, uttered or admitted an ill-natured sug- 
gestion, and never tolerated uncharitableness or scandal. 
Once, when the beauty of her feet was mentioned, Henry 
Clay remarked, with feeling, " She has a tongue that 
never spoke an evil word of any one." Her womanly 
sympathies, too, have remained keen and warm amid all 
the splendors of worldly distinction. " The belle of the 
Union," never weary of doing good, could preside at the 
bedside of suffering, as well as in the fashionable draw- 
ing-room. Her feelings were never deadened by associa- 
tion with the gay. The blessings of the poor and grief- 
laden followed her. Shortly after her return from 
Europe, when her society was in great demand, hearing 
that a neighbor was ill, she came and spent the after- 
noon with her, while her own house was crowded with 
company ; afterwards sending her carriage and taking 
the patient to her own house. When the pestilence 
raged in Savannah, and nurses were sent for to Mobile, 
she was the first to volunteer her services. 

General George "Walton, her grandfather, a signer 
of the Declaration of Independence, in early life resided 
in Prince Edward County, Virginia. He removed to 
Georgia before the war of the Eevolution, in which he 
took part, being wounded in leading a regiment at the 



MADAME LE VERT. 399 

siege of Savannah. He was a member of the first Con- 
gress, and was afterwards Governor of Georgia and 
Judge of the Supreme Court. His wife was Miss Cam- 
ber, the daughter of an English nobleman, to whom the 
crown had granted large estates in the colony. This 
lady chose to remain with her husband in the conflict, 
and suffered for her devotion, being taken prisoner and 
sent for a time to the West Indies. Letters of Wash- 
ington, La Fayette, Adams, and Jefferson to General 
Walton are still preserved, and testify to their high 
appreciation of his character. He died in 1808, at his 
country-seat near Augusta. In the principal street of 
that town is a granite monument, erected by the State 
in memory of him. He left two children. One of them, 
the father of the subject of this sketch, was a millionaire 
when he married Miss Walker, the daughter of an emi- 
nent lawyer of Georgia, and a woman of brilliant accom- 
plishments and large fortune. In 1S21, Colonel Walton 
was appointed Secretary of State under General Jack- 
son, the governor of Florida, whom he succeeded in 
office. Afterwards he was chosen to the legislature, and 
in 1835 he removed to Mobile, Alabama, where he was 
mayor, and filled other important offices. His fortune 
was lost by becoming security for friends ; and large 
manufactories and houses, in Augusta, now occupy his 
lands. 

Octavia was born at " Belle Yue," near Augusta, 
but when very young was taken to Pensacola, where her 
first recollections " were of the orange and live oak trees 



400 QUEENS OF AME1UCAN SOCIETY. 

shading the broad veranda; of the fragrant acacia, 
oleander, and cape jessamines which filled the parterre 
sloping down to the sea-beach ; of merry races with her 
brother along the white sands, while the creamy waves 
broke over her feet, and the delicious breeze from the 
Gulf played in her hair; of the pet mocking-birds in the 
giant oak by her window, whose songs called her each 
morning from dream-land."* 

Pensacola, on its bay, was the rendezvous of United 
States vessels of the Gulf station. When they returned 
from their cruises, balls and parties were given in honor 
of the officers at the Governor's house, and entertain- 
ments on board the ships ; there were moonlight excur- 
sions on the bay, and picnics in the magnolia groves. 
Thus the little Octavia became early familiar with so- 
ciety. Her father took great pains with her education. 
Before she was twelve years old she could write and 
converse in three languages, and often the Colonel took 
her into his office, to translate from the French or Spa- 
nish, letters connected with important affairs of State. 
Perched on a high stool, the little girl interpreted her 
foreign dispatches with great exactness. The Governor, 
who had located the seat of government in Florida, per- 
mitted his daughter to give it a name; which she did in 
kindness to the Seminole king, who struck his tent-pole 
there. She called the place " Tallahassee," signifying 
" beautiful land." The Indians were often indebted to 

* Seo Miss Forrest's " Women of the South." 



' MADAME LE VERT. 401 

the young girl's intercession, and named her " The white 
dove of peace." 

"When La Fayette visited the Southern States, he 
wrote to Octavia's grandmother, requesting her to meet 
him in Mobile ; but on account of infirm health she sent 
the little girl in her stead, to welcome the illustrious 
Frenchman. She was presented, with her mother, and 
banded her grandfather's miniature to La Fayette. 
Gazing upon it, the veteran shed tears, snatched the 
child to his breast, and exclaimed : " The living image 
of my brave and noble friend !" Octavia sat on his knee 
during a long interview, and talked in French. La 
Fayette solemnly blessed her at their parting. " A truly 
wonderful child !" he said. " I predict for her a brilliant 
career!" 

Octavia never went to school ; being taught by pri- 
vate tutors in all branches in which she did not receive 
instruction from her mother and grandmother. She and 
her brother were for years the pupils of an old Scotch- 
man, a fine classic scholar and linguist, who had lived in 
the family since their birth. This careful instruction, 
with her indefatigable industry, gave the young girl that 
extraordinary proficiency in classical and scientific 
studies, as well as music, and in the modern languages, 
which so distinguished her. " She can speak five lan- 
guages well," exclaimed a French gentleman, in rap- 
ture ; " I have heard her converse at the same time with 
a Spaniard, a German, and a Frenchman, holding lively 
conversation with each in his own tongue, with remark- 



•102 . QUEENS OP AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

able precision of pronunciation and elegance of phraseol- 
ogy." In Italian she was equally fluent. In all, said 
Dr. Nichols, " Full of spirit and vivacity, she was simple 
as a child and charming as a fairy ; she seemed like a 
choice goblet of sparkling champagne wine, surrounded 
by roses." 

Soon after the removal of the family to Mobile, 
Octavia, with her mother and brother, made the tour of 
the United States. This was the commencement of her 
bright career. The name of Miss Octavia Walton be- 
came familiar to the fashionable world as " the belle of 
Saratoga." Her wonderful colloquial powers, her tact 
in bringing out the best qualities of all within her influ- 
ence, and the light and warmth diffused by her sunny 
temper, joined to an indescribable faculty of captivating 
hearts, won her a popularity shown by innumerable 
tributes from poets and from grave critics. In one of 
her journeys by stage, her party formed the acquaint- 
ance of a middle-aged gentleman who had traveled 
much, and possessed a large fund of humor and anec- 
dote. Elegant in manners, cultivated in taste, gifted in 
conversation — -who could the distinguished stranger be ? 
When Octavia was talking to her brother in Spanish he 
joined in the discourse, and described a bull-fight, dwell- 
ing particularly on a singular incident. This Octavia 
had heard before, and it was a clue to discovery. " You 
are Washington Irving!" she exclaimed. The gentle- 
man who had related the incident to her had said Wash- 
ington Irving stood by him when it happened. Thus 



MADAME LE VERT. 403 

commenced a friendship which continued till Irving's 
death. A correspondence was kept up, and Madame 
Le Yert was a cherished guest at Sunnyside. When 
they parted, the last time she saw Irving, he said to her, 
" I feel as if the sunshine were all going away with you, 
my child." She kept a journal, at his advice, and 
chronicled therein her impressions of Washington, 
which she visited during Jacksen's administration ; es- 
pecially reports of the speeches of Calhoun, Webster, 
and her warm friend Mr. Clay. 

Miss Walton's marriage with Dr. Henry Le Yert, of 
Mobile, took place in 1S36. He was the son of Dr. 
Claude Le Yert, who came with La Fayette to the 
United States, as fleet-surgeon under Rochambeau, and 
after peace settled in Yirginia. It is a curious fact that 
it was in honor of his wife's uncle, Admiral Yernon, that 
Lawrence Washington, who had served under him in 
South America, named his country-seat "Mount Yer- 
non." 

Dr. Le Yert was a leading physician in Mobile, and 
was not averse to as much' society as pleased his accom- 
plished wife. When he proposed building a house, she 
stipulated only for a library. This she filled with choice 
books and works of art. The house was in Government 
Street — the most pleasant in Mobile — and had beautiful 
grounds in the heart of the city. 

It was in 1849 that her first sorrow clouded Madame 
Le Yert's life, in the death of her only brother and two 
lovely children. These misfortunes were the more keen- 



404 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

ly felt for her previous unbroken happiness. It was 
shortly after these afflictions that Lady Emmeline Stuart 
Wortley, the daughter of the Duke of Rutland, came to 
Mobile. She, too, was a mourner for her noble husband 
and child ; and at the very commencement of her ac- 
quaintance with Madame Le Yert, a tender and holy 
sympathy bound together the hearts of the two stricken 
mothers. Lady Emmeline remained some weeks the 
guest of Madame Le Yert; and the friendship thus 
formed continued unchanged till Lady Emmeline's 
death. She was the faithful correspondent and devoted 
friend of Madame Le Yert, who at their parting secured 
her, through the Spanish consul, a passage home in a 
Government steamer. Lady Emmeline addressed to her 
the following stanzas on leaving America : — 

" I seek mine own fair land, but. ere I part, 
Some farewell words I fain afar would send; 
To whom but thee? thou friend of my true heart, 
My ever lovely and beloved friend ! 

"Thou chosen sister of my soul! methiuks 
Our friendship had a high, immortal birth; 
Beyond the stars were twined its deathless links, 
'Twas born in heaven, to bloom awhile on earth. 

"Yet strange! 'twas born of death. Our joy, our pride, 
We both had seen snatched from us at a blow ; 
Our morning stars of life, our darlings died, 

And both have drained the self-same cup of woe. 

"Ah! how alike both felt that deadly wound, 

With what congenial pangs, what kindred smart; 
What semblance in our sorrow's vein we found, 
E'en in the wildest storm-bursts of the heart. 



MADAME LE VEET. 405 

" Say, sweetest friend, if, wandering by the wave 
That breaks like dawn on Alabama's shore, 
Thou still dost dwell, with thoughts serene, though grave. 
On all that we together felt before? 

" Friend, whom my changeless heart most dearly loves, 
In all this radiant "Western World, so wide, 
Fair are thy Southern home's magnolia groves, 
Whose stately shades are glassed along the tide. 

"But fairer, lovelier, dearer, heavenlier far, 
One little spot to memory's gaze appears; 
A grave ! yet gleamed it like a distant star 
Through the interposing medium of our tears. 

"Locked were thy jewels in that treasure-cave, 

Where angels leaned, and watched the sleeping flowers; 
My pearl slept far beyond the Atlantic's wave, 
New planted for the glad Elysian bowers. 

•' We stood beside that grave, in silence stood — 

'Twere vain to speak where human speech must fail; 
We gazed not then on the emerald-tinted wood, 
Nor marked the varied pride of hill or dale. 

" Then memory did to England's shore revert, 

Where keeps its precious charge another grave; 
Ay, but with feelings glowing at my heart 

Which seemed death's darkness and its dust to brave. 

" Now let me turn once more to thee I to thee ! 
Sweet Rose of Florida — 'twas there thine eyes 
First opeued to the light, the earth, the sea, 
And all the sparkling beauty of the skies. 

" Most dear to thee are Alabama's shores, 

Though still thou own'st, while life's dark seasons roll, 
And time thins fast the heart's own treasure-stores, 
'Tis no true Alabama* of the soul. 

* " Alabama " signifies, in the Indian language, " Here we rest." 
There is a legend of a tribe of Indians who fled from a relentless foe to 
the forests of the Southwest. Weary and travel-worn, they reached a 



406 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

"Bold was the proud red warrior, vainly bold, 

Whose lips pronounced the daring "Here we rest!" 
Though bright as Hesperian groves of old 
Spread the fair land its calm and beauteous breast. 

"But who can rest on earth, until no more 

Tossed on life's sea-like surface? 'Tis in vain. 
They rested not, that race which passed before ; 
Te rest not, dwellers on this flower-lit plain. 

"But they, our children, o'er whose graves we mourned, 
Sleep well. Rest, folded flower and buried gem 1 
By angels summoned, they to God returned, 
And all is "Alabama " now to them. 

"Oh! lost and loved ones, lead us in the way, 

And be our sorrowings o'er your joys forgiven; 
Warn us, ye tender teachers, not to say 

That " here we rest " in any home but heaven. 

"Farewell! Yet surely friendship such as ours 

Dreads no farewell! It sprang from out the tomb, 
To know no death. It flings off earthly hours 
As rocks the spray. Eternity 's its home." 

In the summer of 1853, Madame Le Vert, with her 
father and daughter, visited England. The family of 
the Duke of Rutland showed her the greatest attention. 
She visited Belvoir Castle, the splendid home of the 
Duke, and was called upon and entertained by all the 
relatives of Lady Emmeline, who had delighted in 
describing the charming hospitalities of Madame Le 
Vert's house in Mobile. Never, perhaps, had an Ameri- 
can a more brilliant success in the way of access to the 

noble river, flowing through a beautiful country. The chief of the band 

struck his tent-pole in the ground, and exclaimed: "Alabama! Alabama!" 

("Here we rest! Here we rest!") From this exclamation comes the 
name of the State and the river. 



MADAME LE VERT. 407 

highest class of society, and notice from royalty. But if 
her first reception and welcome were due to Lady Em- 
meline's friendship, her own social gifts and accomplish- 
ments opened the way to further triumphs. The Queen 
herself honored the American belle in a remarkable 
manner, by sending her a card to a State ball without a 
previous presentation. This was an exception to the 
rule of court etiquette, and made quite a stir in aristo- 
cratic circles. Madame Le Vert was at dinner when a 
package bearing the royal arms was handed to her, con- 
taining an invitation never before extended even to a 
crowned head without the preliminary of an introduc- 
tion. She procured a dress in all haste, sent for Mr. 
Ingersoll, then ambassador, and was escorted by him to 
the ball. The royal circle was composed of the Queen 
and Prince Albert, the Duchess of Kent, the King and 
Queen of Prussia, Prince Frederick William, the King 
and Queen of Hanover, and other royal personages. 
The Lord Chamberlain presented her, and bade her 
welcome in the Queen's name. Madame Le Vert made 
her obeisance, which was returned by the Queen and 
Prince Albert. The Queen then asked her how she 
liked England, and if she had been pleased with her 
new friends. This special distinction, of course, ren- 
dered Madame Le Vert a star in the court circles. Her 
fascinating qualities, frank gayety, and wonderful tact, 
went far to satisfy curiosity as to how this brilliant and 
fortunate lad} 7 could win such honors. She received the 
homage paid to her with the same simple grace as in her 



408 QUEEN'S OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

own home. A Loudon critic speaks of the surprise and 
admiration of the foreign ministers at hearing her fluent 
utterance of their different languages. Even the Turk- 
ish Ambassador, being told she was a Georgian, ex- 
claimed : " Ah, Madame, I can well imagine you are a 
Georgian — for no other women possess such beauty." 

Frederika Bremer, an attached friend of Madame Le 
Yert, did all she could to contribute to the pleasure of 
her European visit. At a party at Lord John Manners's 
she met D'Israeli, and other celebrities. She also visited 
Stafford House, the residence of the Duchess of Suther- 
land, was at a conversazione given at the Lord Mayor's, 
and met the German poet Freiligrath, Mr. and Mrs. S. 
C. Hall, Mrs. Mary Howitt, and Mrs. Crosland. Re- 
turning to America in 1854, in the following year she 
went again to Europe, with her husband and lovely 
daughter Octavia. Some weeks were spent in Havana, 
whence she went to Cadiz, and traveled through Spain 
and France to Italy, arriving at Eome in time for the 
ceremonies of the Holy Week. The summer of the 
" Great Exposition" was spent in Paris, where she wit- 
nessed the pageants in honor of Queen Victoria's visit. 
She described particularly a ball at the palace of the 
Count de Walewski, Minister of Foreign Affairs, where 
twelve rooms were opened. At a ball given by the 
Prince Napoleon, she was presented to the Countess 
Montijo, the mother of the Empress Eugenie. This 
noble lady proved a kind and attentive friend to her ; 
accompanying her to the palace, where she was present- 



MADAME LE VERT. 409 

ed to the Einperor and Empress. Lamartine, Dumas, 
Ristori, and others, figured in her record. On her re- 
turn home, her house on the broad, imperial avenue 
became more than ever the abode of splendid hospitality. 
A genial welcome was extended to every worthy stran- 
ger, and a place of reunion was offered for all distin- 
guished visitors. Her receptions were " the boast and 
pride of the citizens." A genuine republican in her 
feelings, Madame Le Yert respected and cherished 
genius and merit, however humble their condition. 
Whoever had talent and moral worth, with minds ex- 
panded by education, had a claim upon her; but she 
could not enjoy the society of commonplace money- 
grubbing people, unable to appreciate art or the best 
tone of conversation. Artists, poets, and actors she wel- 
comed. After her first visit to Europe, she had recep- 
tions every Monday, from eleven in the morning to 
eleven at night; and the house was crowded all day. 
One day a plain old country planter called, and pointing 
to a picture, requested her to read to him from her book 
the description of a celebrated grotto on the coast 
of Naples. She readily complied. Lover visited her, 
and sang for the pleasure of her circle. When Kossuth 
visited Mobile, Madame Le Yert met and conducted him 
to her house to lunch ; walking, while the carriage drove 
alongside, through the people who came to see the illus- 
trious stranger. 

Miss Bremer thus wrote of Madame Le Yert : — 

"It is so strange that that little worldly lady, whom I had 
18 



410 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

heard spoken of as a belle, and as the most splendid ornament of 
society wherever she went, has yet become almost as dear to me as 
a young sister. But she has become so from being so very excel- 
lent; because she has suffered much ; and because under a worldly 
exterior there is an unusually sound and pure intellect and a heart 
full of affection, which can cast aside all the vanities of the world 
for the power of gratifying those whom she loves. This fair 
daughter of Florida is surrounded by a circle of relatives who seem 
to regard her as the apple of their eye ; and if you would see the 
ideal of the relationship between a lady and her female slave, you 
should see Octavia Le Vert and her clever, handsome mulatto 
attendant, Betsey. Betsey seems really not to live for any thing 
else than for her mistress Octavia." 

Another friend writes : — 

"North, south, east, west, goes Betsey with her mistress; 
through bristling ranks of Abolitionists, up the Khine, over the 
Alps, everywhere goes Betsey defying prejudice, and scorning 
fanaticism. On one occasion, Betsey was thrown out of a railway 
carriage, and her mistress gave her the tenderest care." 

A writer in the " New Orleans Delta " described an 
entertainment given at Madame Le Yert's house in 
Mobile : — 

"From early starlight till the roses of morning began to lighten 
the eastern waters, the elegant mansion was a blaze of light in its 
drawing-rooms and halls; the surrounding parterres, with their 
thick foliage of orange-trees, oleanders, and magnolias, were illu- 
minated with multitudes of many-colored lamps in the form of 
fruits and flowers, shining as though an emerald vail had entangled 
swarms of fire-flies, or flowers of flame and fruits of gold from fairy 
orchards were imprisoned within the clustering branches. About 
ten the 'goodly companie ' began to fill the spacious rooms, which 
were decorated with works of art and fine paintings brought from 
foreign lands. The walls of the principal drawing-room, adorned 
by portraits of distinguished persons, were wreathed with garlands 
of the rich flowers then in luxuriant blossom; and in the midst of 



MADAME LE VEKT. 411 

the roses stood the accomplished lady, receiving her guests."- - 
" What sculptured beauty in that rounded form ! She is not tall, 
but such perfect symmetry, such undulating grace, such decorous 
dignity, such cordial courtesy, such infinite adaptiveness of manner, 
you have never seen before. Her face is Madonna-like, brown 
waves of hair parting from a high, broad forehead ; her eyes aro 
blue, and seem to melt with thought, and her chiseled lips are 
tinted like the delicate sea-shell." — "She has made you think, just 
by her manner and her few felicitous words, that you are the very 
being she is most delighted to see. Such is the mysterious spell of 
her grace and courtesy." — "Look how yon stairway is crowded! 
You may see the loveliness of Mobile gliding through the dance. 
The stars crowd upon each other. Close by her mother's side is a 
fair young creature just entering on her teens — it is the eldest 
daughter of our hostess ; and near her is the noblest specimen of a 
Southern matron, elegant, amiable, and intelligent — Mrs. "Walton, 
the mother of Madame Le Vert. That splendid-looking man in the 
door-way is Dr. Le Vert, who always enjoys the social success of 
his wife. All the elite of our city were present, many from the- 
interior of Alabama, and some from New Orleans. Two thousand 
invitations had been issued, and the preparations for the entertain- 
ment were extensive. In our Queen City of the Gulf there has 
never been a fete so magnificent." 

The author of " Life in Washington," describing 
Madame Le Vert, said : — 

"Lively and brilliant, she appears the favorite of every society 
she enters." 

Another fair writer : — 

"She was surrounded by visitors, of course; but she greeted 
us with great warmth, and we had not been five minutes in her 
presence before she found the direct road to our heart. She wore 
a light blue silk, covered with clusters of white roses, and her 
jewels were a set of turquoises. We listened to her delightful 
conversation in silence. In a short time, some of her visitors 
retired. Then she drew a chair close beside us, opened the book 
she held, and read us a few pages from her unpublished journal." 



412 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Another wrote of her at Newport, Rhode Island : — 

a No queen could have met with a more enthusiastic reception. 
She has enchanted alike the grave and the gay, the old and young, 
hy her exquisite grace of manner and kindness of heart. She may 
justly be called a female Crichton, for she excels in every thing she 
attempts. At the fancy ball given at the Ocean House, she 
appeared as Nourmahal, the Light of the Harem. Her costume 
was perfect in its oriental magnificence, absolutely blazing with 
jewels. She wore a closely-fitting bodice of silver lama, over which 
fell a net-work of pearls; around her waist was a girdle of glitter- 
ing gems — the topaz, amethyst, emerald, and diamond mingled 
their splendors. Her dark glossy hair, simply parted upon her 
white forehead, was gathered beneath a turban of Avhite and silver 
lama, adorned with a diamond crescent of rare value. The short 
dress was of satin, embroidered with pearls, and the Turkish 
trousers, of the same material, were fastened by silver anklets. 
Her feet were cased in gold and crimson slippers, and long oriental 
sleeves shaded her beautiful arms, which were decorated with 
armlets, her wrists being encircled by costly bracelets ; while on 
her neck gleamed a superb diamond necklace. A gorgeous fan 
completed the dress, which might have been that of Lalla Rookh, 
when Moore wrote the lines : — 

" 'Illumed by a wit that would fascinate sages, 

Yet playful as Peris just loosed from their cages.' " 

At Saratoga, where she had been so admired as a 
girl, Madame Le Vert was again a reigning belle by 
acclamation, " still wealing the chaplet of beauty, with 
many a fresh, flower; even more lovely, more brilliant, 
more graceful than ever." 

" Amid the charming representatives of the various States she 
stands the most distinguished, having no rival. Her colloquial 
talents, her tact, emanating from a kind heart, captivate all who 
approach her. She floats through the rooms, with a radiant smile 
for her acquaintances; now the object of admiration to a group of 
Americans, now with silver-toned voice and perfect Castilian 



MADAME LE VERT. 413 

accent describing the gay scene to a Spaniard, now in conversation 
with a Frenchman, an Italian, and a German, speaking in his own 
language to each, and changing one for another with lightning 
rapidity. Then we find her in earnest conversation with some 
distinguished scholar, and note the stores of erudition, the vigorous 
grasp of intellect, and the rich mental culture which are among 
her resources. We do involuntary homage to those matchless 
powers, such as in other lands made the undying fame of a De 
Stael, a De Genlis, or a Maintenon. At the same time, the grace 
and high-bred manner with which she receives homage remove her 
as far from the hackneyed every-day belle as the stars are above 
the earth. It is easy to see that a pure and noble heart, with a 
highly cultivated mind, brightens that soul-lighted face. Last 
night, at the fancy ball, she was brilliant in the costume of Haidee, 
in 'The Oriental Dream.' " . 

Society being the natural element of this gifted lady, 
she has always manifested an interest in benevolent 
undertakings which her influence could aid. She gave 
an eloquent address on the laying of the corner-stone of 
the monument to Henry Clay in New Orleans. -Few 
had better opportunities of studying Mr. Clay's char- 
acter, for he was to her a dear and honored friend. She 
was the Vice-Regent of the Mount Vernon Association 
for Alabama, and addressed an appeal in its behalf to 
her State, which met with a hearty response. , On the 
4th of July, at her own house, she received seven hun- 
dred dollars in small contributions to the fund. 

Madame Le Yert was in New York in the autumn 
of 1860, during the visit of the Prince of Wales, and was 
one of the select and brilliant party at the superb break- 
fast given to the Prince by Mayor Wood at his villa — 
" Woodlawn." She and her daughter were treated with 



414 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

special attention by the royal guest, who expressed great 
pleasure in meeting with a lady known to his august 
mother, and who had been so kind to his countrymen. 

The summer of this year had been a happy one to 
Madame Le Yert, and full of joy and hope she returned 
to her Southern home. There sorrow was hovering, as 
clouds were gathering over her country. Her idolized 
mother was in failing health. This lady has been men- 
tioned as a woman of brilliant gifts. She lived near her 
daughter, and usually spent her evenings with her. 
" Frequently," says one of her friends, " the mother, 
daughter, and grand-daughter attend the same party, 
dance in the same quadrille, and attract their own 
separate coteries." After an illness of two months this 
estimable woman breathed her last in the arms of her 
daughter, who was so crushed by affliction that for 
many weeks she lingered in the shadow of the grave. 
God willed her continuance in life, and she slowly 
returned to health. The health of Dr. Le Yert had been 
failing, and his wife devoted herself to him day and 
night. In the midst of this distress Colonel Walton 
died. The accumulation of sorrow was overwhelming, 
but for her stricken husband's sake, the bereaved daugh- 
ter struggled for strength to do all that liis condition 
required, while she also gave relief in many cases of suf- 
fering brought to her knowledge. Dr. Le Yert died a 
year before the close of the war, having been an invalid 
four years, tenderly nursed by the wife whom he blessed 
with dying breath. 



MAI>AME LE VERT. 415 

Thus was Madame Le Yert left alone in the world 
with her two young daughters. In 1865, her numerous 
slaves were emancipated with all others. They were in 
consternation on hearing that they were to be separated 
from their mistress. Gathering around her in a body, 
they implored her to keep them. " Let us stay with 
you," they entreated ; " we will work for you as we 
have always done. We do not want freedom, if it takes 
us from you !" With tears of gratitude for their devo- 
tion, their mistress explained to them that they were 
now free; but she promised always to be their friend. 
Her maid, Betsey, positively refused to leave her. 

Five years of trial and grief had left their impress 
upon Madame Le Yert's health, and her friends in 
Mobile urged her to revisit the North. She came to 
New York in the summer of 1865, with her daughters. 
They were received by their former friends with such 
cordiality and delight, that they found it necessary to 
have reception-days every week at the Fifth Avenue 
Hotel, where they stayed. The autumn and early por- 
tion of the winter were spent in the enjoyment of the 
fashionable gayeties of New York; in January they 
went to Washington. Here they were most warmly 
welcomed, and received flattering attentions from the 
President and his family, the members of the Cabinet, 
and the Foreign Ministers. Madame Le Yert's recep- 
tion was, indeed, no less brilliant than in the days of 
her happy youth. Many of the friends of her girlhood 



416 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

came to greet her. Among these was Rev. John Pier- 
pont, who exclaimed, on seeing her : — 

il Octavia — what — the Eight 1 If gracious Heaven 
Hath made eight such — where are the other seven?" 

The summer of 1866 was spent at Saratoga and other 
places of rural resort — the party returning to New York 
in September, to prepare for the journey southward in 
November. On the way to Mobile, they lingered some 
weeks near Nashville, the guests of Mrs. Acklen. She 
gave them a brilliant reception, at which Madame Le 
Yert wore lilac-colored moire antique, with a Grecian 
head-dress ; her daughters, rose-colored satin trimmed 
with Brussels lace and silver cord. The next stopping- 
place of Madame Le Yert was at " Bellevue "'—the place 
of her birth, "the sweetest cottage in the world." — near 
Augusta, now the residence of her aunt. Its groves of 
oak, and bowers of jessamine, clematis, and Cherokee 
roses, its parterres of flowers, exhibit the luxuriance of 
nature in that sunny region. The lady of the place was 
in her youth called " the beauty of the South ;" and en- 
joys a distinction few Americans can boast, in living, in 
advanced age, on the spot where she was born. 

In 1S67 Madame Le Yert and her daughters spent 
some time in New Orleans. Two of her former slaves, 
who were established in that city, left all other employ- 
ment, and insisted on being permitted to wait upon their 
idolized mistress, refusing all payment for their services. 
Madame Le Yeil was obliged to promise all her house- 
servants to take tli em back whenever she should return 




k 






MRS. AOKLEN. 417 

to her old home in Mobile. Their attachment to her 
amounts to adoration. Even the little children, brought 
by their mothers to see her, would kneel before her, cry- 
ing : " Oh, pray, Miss 'Tavie, come back, and live with 
us !" Such touching incidents prove that negroes have 
grateful hearts. Some Southerners, reduced to penury, 
have been supported by the free and loving offerings of 
their former slaves. 



Mrs. Acklen, distinguished for graces and accom- 
plishments in the society of Nashville, Tennessee, is the 
daughter of Oliver B. Hayes, a native of South Hadley, 
Massachusetts. He was among the pioneers of the mid- 
dle division of Tennessee, and at twenty-eight married 
Sarah C. Hightower, the daughter of Richard High- 
tower, a wealthy farmer of Williamson County. Mr. 
Hayes was fur many years one of the most eminent law- 
yers in the State, acquiring a considerable fortune by his 
professional success. Thus he gained time and opportu- 
nity to devote himself to study in other branches. In 
after years he became a clergyman, distinguished for 
ability and eloquence. Mrs. Hayes was noted for per- 
sonal beauty, grace of manner, and sweetness of disposi- 
tion. She was never forgetful of the poor, and made 
her home a paradise. Reared by such parents, their 
lovely daughter, Adelicia, grew up surrounded by all the 
advantages of fortune and of judicious culture. She was 

educated at the Nashville Female College, the best semi- 
is* 



413 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

nary in the State. Possessing great beauty and every 
cliarining accomplishment, she graced an elevated circle 
of society. In the bloom of early youth she was mar- 
ried to Mr. Isaac Franklin, one of the most opulent 
planters of Louisiana. He lived but a few years — 
adoring his wife, to whom he bequeathed his immense 
fortune. 

When the youthful widow reappeared in society, it 
was with even more brilliant loveliness, softened by a 
gentle grace and dignity that won more admiration than 
ever. Her hand was a prize coveted by many distin- 
guished admirers ; it was won by Colonel Joseph Ack- 
len, of Huntsville, Alabama, an eminent member of the 
legal profession. Possessing refined taste and cultiva- 
tion, he made improvements in their large estate near 
Nashville, building a magnificent house, Italian in its 
style of architecture. It stands on the summit of a hill ; 
the grounds surrounding it are highly ornamental, and 
the spacious greenhouse and conservatories are filled 
with choice flowers. This villa — called " Bellemonte " — 
is one of the centre spots of attraction in the State, and 
is said to be the most beautiful in the Southwest. Mrs. 
Acklen was the light of this abode — the pride and joy 
of her husband ; but he lived only a few years to enjoy 
the happiness that crowned his union with so charming 
a wife, in a home full of the sanctities of love. 

Shortly after his death, Mrs. Acklen, with her chil- 
dren, spent two years in a European tour. She was 
invited to the Imperial ball given at the opening of the 



MRS. ACKLEN. 419 

.National Assembly, and was received with marked con- 
sideration by the French Emperor and Empress. Her 
beauty, grace, and courtly manners, with her rich and 
tasteful dress at all times, and the superb style in which 
she lived, created a sensation in Paris, and in social 
circles she was universally admired. Returning to her 
princely home, she brought with her some of the finest 
works of art in statuary, painting, and engraving, with rare 
articles of vertu — a variety such as few American homes 
can boast — as contributions to her splendid galleries. No 
expense was spared in the adornment of this beautiful 
place. The drawing-rooms, halls, and lofty corridors 
contain specimens of the great sculptors of the old and the 
new world. In the centre of the grand, hall lighted by 
windows of stained glass, stands the matchless " JPeri" 
of Mosier, pronounced quite equal to the " Greek Slave ;" 
" combining angelic attributes with the charms of the 
human face." The sculptor has chosen the moment 
when the Peri, standing before the opening gates of 
Paradise, exclaims : — 

"Joy, joy forever I my task is done 1" &c. 

In the front hall is the "Bath" of Rogers; and in 
the large drawing-room, the exquisite " Sans Souci" of 
Ives, expressing, in its perfect beauty, the abandon and 
grace of a child. " Rebecca at the Well" by the same 
artist, is there ; and the group of " The Twins" by Rein- 
hardt, with a number of choice paintings from the old 
masters. At the close of 1866 Mrs. Acklen gave the 



420 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

reception " complimentary to Madame Le Vert," prepa- 
rations for which caused no small excitement in the 
business streets of Nashville. It was called " the fore- 
runner of a new regime of entertainments, combining 
intellectual and artistic enjoyment with perfect taste." 
The observatory, groves, and parterres were illuminated, 
and the effect of the light among the statues, shrubbery, 
and flowers, with music from the portico, was fairy-like. 
The beautiful hostess wore the dress of pearl-colored 
satin, trimmed with richest point d'Alencon, in which 
she had been presented at the French court, with a 
coronet of diamonds, and diamond necklace and brace- 
lets. Ladies were there from Memphis and from Ken- 
tucky; and the sister and nieces of the hostess were 
greatly admired. 

Mrs. Acklen has lately married Dr. W. A. Cheat- 
ham. She is no less distinguished for her generous 
charities than for her brilliant social graces. Hers is the 
home of cordial hospitality, to which resort all the celeb- 
rities who visit Nashville ; and the poor partake of the 
profuse liberality that marks her entertainments. She 
has four beautiful children. Three of her brothers are 
living ; they are gentlemen of high respectability and 
ample fortune. Her two sisters — Mrs. Shields and Mrs. 
Lawrence — have a share of the same personal loveli- 
ness, and are like her in all engaging feminine virtues. 



Mrs. Robert Stannard — Miss Martha Pierce — was a 
celebrated leader in fashionable society in Richmond, 



MRS. STANDARD. 421 

Virginia, where slie lived thirty years. She was educa- 
ted in Baltimore, and married at a very early age. Her 
house was the last burned when Richmond was in part 
destroyed, and at the close of the war she went to Eu- 
rope. There she received the most devoted attention 
from Sir Henry and Lady Bulwer, whom she had enter 
tained at her own house, and had taken to visit " Shir- 
ley," a noted plantation on the James River, belonging 
to Dr. Carter, and regarded by foreigners as " a show 
place." She was treated with great attention by other 
noble friends in England ; was invited by the Duke of 
Wellington to Apsley House, and introduced to his 
friends. This charming woman illustrates the best 
social phase in the city where she resided — where wealth 
was no passport to distinction, and the golden-calf wor- 
ship, which too often disgusts sensible people in our 
great metropolis, was unknown. With a simplicity and 
grace that bespeak high mental culture, an elevated 
nature, and familiar acquaintance with the most refined 
society, she unites a spontaneous cordiality that can only 
flow from a warm and generous heart. In the midst of 
trials and misfortunes, her sympathy with suffering 
friends has been deep and constant. The attachment of 
her servants to so kind a mistress, their sorrow at the 
parting which their freedom rendered inevitable, and 
particularly the devotion of her maid Patty, who put off 
her own marriage because she would not leave her lady 
alone and sad, are worthy of being chronicled. Mrs. 
Stannard has been for some time a resident of Baltimore. 



422 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

and expects to make her home with her son, in Fred- 
ericksburgh, Virginia. 

Mrs. "Wickham, who was Miss McClurg, and was 
born in Richmond, is well knowo through a portion of 
Virginia as prominent in society. Her daughter Ella 
was celebrated for beauty; another — Betsey — for intel- 
lectual attainments. 

A daughter of Mrs. "Wickham became the wife of 
Benjamin Watkins Lee, of Virginia. 

Another distinguished lady, prominent in all noble 
works, as she has been in society by right of intellectual 
gifts and charming manners, is Miss Emily Mason, of 
Kentucky. Her parents were Virginians — descended 
from the best stock in the " Old Dominion." Her 
mother was of the Marshall and Nicholson families : her 
paternal grandfather and uncle were both United States 
senators from that State. Her father, General Mason, 
removed to Kentucky some years after his marriage, and 
Emily was born in Lexington. Her only brother being 
elected Governor of the Territory of Michigan, the 
family followed him to Detroit, and the young girl was 
thence sent to Mrs. "Willard's school. The pressure of 
affliction, separating the members of the family, short- 
ened her time at school ; her parents went to Mexico, 
and at the age of seventeen Emily presided in the Gov- 
ernor's mansion at Detroit, where she entertained a 
great deal of company, and exercised unlimited sway in 
the world of fashion. Her sprightly wit and remarka- 
ble powers of conversation, even at that early age, gave 



MISS EMILY MASCXN". 423 

her a social ascendency unrivaled by any in that fair 
western city, and her brilliant style of beauty attracted 
general admiration. After the death of her brother she 
rejoined her parents in Virginia, spending some time in 
different cities of the Southwest. In New Orleans and 
elsewhere she became a celebrity in society. Too ear- 
nest in purposes of usefulness, and too intent on the culti- 
vation of her mental powers for the frivolous career of 
an ordinary belle, she had a far more elevating influence, 
and commanded attention much more enviable. It was 
the sway not merely of beauty, but of varied accom- 
plishments, rare perception and adaptation, and a " so- 
cial genius'' few women have possessed in this country, 
combined with the magnetic power of a generous and 
sympathetic nature. In her impulsive, fresh, cordial 
manner, and what may be called heart-speaking, she 
illustrated a peculiar charm of Southern character ; 
having always an object in her pursuits beyond the 
amusement of the hour. Her mother died in 1839. The 
death of her father was followed by utter loss of fortune. 
Many of her friends wrote to entreat the orphaned girl 
to reside with them ; at one time no less than seven 
homes were offered, where she could still have had the 
enjoyment of affluence. But she preferred independ- 
ence at the cost of privation and labor. She purchased 
a small market farm in Fairfax County, Virginia, to 
which she removed a widowed sister and her family. 
This little home was soon beautified by her own hands. 
With the children's help she papered and painted the 



424 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

house; and together they worked in the garden, dig- 
ging and planting as if they had been accustomed to 
toil, while the boys went to market and mill after work- 
ing hours. Often did Miss Mason labor in the hot sun 
for seven hours at a time, getting in her hay and fodder. 
On one occasion a carriage full of elegantly dressed 
ladies, from Washington — only ten miles distant — came 
to the house. The visitors found Miss Emily in the 
stable-loft, putting away and salting down the fodder ; 
but she came in blooming from her work with a pleasant 
greeting for her friends, and, like true Southerners, they 
did not admire her the less for doing what was needed 
with her own hands. At another time, a fashionable 
lady, approaching the house at a distance, saw her occu- 
pied in sowing grass-seed, as she walked to and fro 
across her lawn. Mistaking her action, the affrighted 
lady exclaimed : " I have often heard it said Emily 
Mason would go crazy working about this place! and 
do look at the frantic way in which she walks up and 
down swinging her arm 1" A young gentleman of her 
acquaintance w r as wont to declare that the hatchet and 
nails were handed round whenever he went to pay a 
visit, as cake and wine would be handed at another 
house ! Thus was the energetic girl determined to carry 
on her enterprise, to the astonishment of her aristocratic 
friends ; and, with the co-operation of her young rela- 
tives, their happy home became a little paradise, content 
and abundance smiling on their exertions. But. war 
came ; their home wa3 taken from them for " military 



MISS EMILY MASON. 425 

purposes," and the innocent inmates were driven out 
shelterless, being forced to leave behind them clothing, 
stores, and all the cherished tokens of days of prosperity. 
At the breaking out of hostilities Miss Mason was on a 
visit to a sick relative in the North. She became sus- 
pected, and was denounced as a Southern spy; was 
hunted by the authorities, hidden by her friends — and 
finally compelled to fly from pursuit. She fled home- 
ward, and had a dreadful journey alone through "West 
Virginia ; finding no place of refuge where her home 
had been. Her property was entirely destroyed. She 
then went to the hospitals, and particularly devoted her 
energies to active usefulness in the Winder Hospital, near 
Richmond. Here, and in the prisons, she took care of 
the sick, wounded, and dying, wherever her ministrations 
were necessary ; and many a Union soldier had cause for 
grateful remembrance of her good offices. Her spirit of 
benevolent enterprise survived the war. Since its close 
she has worked even more indefatigably than ever in the 
cause of humanity. She has been the benefactress of 
Southern orphans, solicitous to provide for them the 
means of education, that they may be enabled, in time, 
to earn their own living. Her widely extended influ- 
ence, and the confidence of all who know her in her 
excellent judgment, faithful care, and generous charity, 
have enabled her to find temporary homes for twenty- 
five destitute little creatures, while she gives herself a 
respite of a few months, taking a tour in Europe with an 
agreeable party. 



±26 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Miss Sallie Carneal, the daughter of Davis Carneal, 
of Kentucky, was the most celebrated belle of Cincin- 
nati, not only for beauty, but for her rare musical attain- 
ments, her powers of song, and her accomplishments 
as a linguist, with marked and noble traits of character. 
Her fame spread widely through the Southwest, and in 
Cincinnati she was identified with all that was elegant 
and fashionable ; being truly the pride and queen of the 
Queen City. She married Mr. Glendy Burke, a noted 
merchant of New Orleans, and did not long survive her 
marriage. 

A prominent belle in Kentucky, and called "the 
belle of the Southwest," was Miss Louisa Bullitt. She 
married Mr. De Kantzou, a Swede, and went with him 
to Sweden, but returned to live in this country, with 
vivacity and social attractions undiminished. A won- 
derful charm of her manner was the faculty of putting 
those at their ease who conversed with her. 

The American Association for the Advancement of 
Science held its twelfth annual meeting in Baltimore, in 
April, 1858. A splendid reception was given to the 
members, with five* hundred guests, by Mrs. Lincoln 
Phelps, at her house in Eutaw Place. She had been 
elected a member years before. Standing around Mrs. 
Phelps, as she welcomed the company, were twelve 
young ladies, dressed in white, with natural flowers in 
their hair. They were chosen from the belles of Balti- 
more. Two were daughters of Colonel Yan Ness ; two 
the daughters of Bishop Whittingham ; one a niece of 



MRS. LINCOLN PHELPS. 427 

Chancellor Johnson. The lovely daughter of the host- 
ess, and Miss Helen Scott, a noted beauty, were also of 
the group. The scientific visitors were not only im- 
pressed with the grace and loveliness of the fair Balti- 
rnoreans, but with their taste in dress. Flowers of the 
choicest variety adorned the drawing-rooms, veranda, 
&c, and the supper was presided over by an artist who 
had been confectioner to the Emperor of Austria, at 
Schcenbrunn. His achievements in iced fruits and other 
dessert preparations elicited the remark from a gentle- 
man at a military dinner-party, given by Mrs. Phelps, 
that he had seen nothing like it since leaving Vienna. 

On the occasion of a visit from Mayor Lincoln, of 
Boston, with the Common Council and Board of Educa- 
tion, to Baltimore, Mrs. Phelps gave them an elegant 
entertainment, at which her daughter's harp-playing was 
a most admired adjunct to the speeches by the mayor 
and other gentlemen. In the summer of 1866, a delega- 
tion from Congress was invited by General Phelps, and 
a morning " reception " was given by his mother. Mrs. 
Phelps has for ten years contributed to the enjoyments 
of Baltimore society. Her literary and educational 
celebrity is as extensive as the country. She is a sister 
of Mrs. Willard, whose social influence in Troy was as 
much acknowledged as her fame as a teacher and author. 



428 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 



XXI. 

The influence of Mrs. Fremont has been very pecu- 
liar. Without entering personally into the arena of 
politics, or using any machinery of partisanship, she has 
sent forth an animating spirit, acting on eminent minds. 
Living in the whirl of social excitement, she has found 
time to maintain relations with leading statesmen in 
every part of the country. Her influence seems to have 
been exercised, not in the furtherance of schemes, but 
simply by the force of a powerful nature and a singular 
clearness of mental vision. In France she might have 
ruled openly in the councils of the nation ; in America 
she merely gave suggestions and advice to those who 
controlled the people's destiny. Her father was the dis- 
tinguished Colonel Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, who 
sat thirty-one years in the United States Senate. She 
was born in Virginia, on the family estate of her maternal 
grandfather, Colonel James McDowell, to whose father, 
a lieutenant-colonel in the British service, the crown 
grant for military services was originally made, and who 
was killed there by Indians in 1712. The domain was 
in Rockbridge County, and extended " from the valley 
to the tops of all the hills in view;" the point of vib*v 
being a lakelet formed by the meeting of two streams 



MES. FREMONT. 429 

that crossed the valley. There was another grant of ten 
thousand acres of pasture land in Greenbriar County, 
adjoining; with yet another, called "the military," of 
some thousands of acres in Kentucky ; and another on 
the Ohio side of the river, on which a part of Cincinnati 
was built. These grants of " wild lands" were made by 
the English government, instead of payments in money, 
to their young officers. The inheritor of this magnifi- 
cent estate was distinguished not only by noble aspect 
and dignity of manner, but by uprightness, justice, and 
liberality, with a temperance rare in those days. He 
divided his patrimony with his mother and sisters, who, 
like him, bestowed on the lands the most careful cultiva- 
tion, such as only those born on the soil they expect to 
transmit to their children are willing to give. It was a 
section where the chief crops were tobacco and wheat, 
and where the Scotch settlers had introduced a thorough 
system of farming. The best imported stock and horses 
always belonged to the property ; and thrift, order, and 
abundance reigned. Colonel McDowell married into the 
Preston family, and held a commanding position during 
life. He was a private court of appeal on questions of 
property and honor among the neighbors. It has been 
recorded that but ten cases on which he had pronounced 
an opinion had afterwards been taken into court. 

In this region stands the " Washington College," 
endowed by Washington, of which General Lee is now 
president. On the same " College Hill" is the Military 
Institute, of which Stonewall Jaokson was for eight years 



430 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

the head. There stood also the " Ann Smith Academy,' 
where the daughters of prominent families were sent, 
attended, in their own carriages and on horseback ; their 
brothers at the adjoining school having their special 
servants, dogs, guns, and horses. Besides the ordinary 
branches, the girls were taught fine embroidery and the 
care of their complexions. ISTo high-born Virginia maid- 
en would " spread her hand " by turning a door-knob, or 
touching the tongs, or handling a heavy object. Long 
gloves and deep sun-bonnets were constantly worn, and 
they ate little meat or butter. It is now more rationally 
believed that sunshine and a nourishing diet are essential 
to health. Every girl was taught her duties as head of 
a house. The homely, hearty English middle-class 
country-life formed the model, to which greater breadth 
was given by the larger extent of the estates and num- 
ber of laborers to be managed. The Scotch elements of 
diligence and conscientiousness, modified by a more 
liberal scale of living, created a form of rural life almost 
peculiar to the true Virginia home. It was the pleasure 
and pride of other proprietors besides Colonel McDowell 
that they lived on land which had never been bought or 
sold, and that in sixty years no negro had been trans- 
ferred to another owner. Each plantation was a little 
kingdom, producing within its own limits every thing 
needed except groceries and fine cloths, which were 
brought from Richmond in the wagons that carried the 
harvest of flour and tobacco. 

The central portion of Virginia, cradled among her 



MRS. FREMONT. 431 

glorious mountains, where lie the Sulphur Springs, the 
Hawk's Nest, the Natural Bridge, and other wonders of 
scenery — not far south enough for the operation of plant- 
ing interests, was the region where the old ancestral 
pride and contempt of mere moneyed aristocracy sub- 
sisted in sternest purity. Its farming, rather than trad- 
ing or planting interest was first broken in upon after 
the invention of the cotton-gin, which revolutionized 
Southern interests. Among the leading families, such 
as the Randolphs, "Wythes, McDowells, and others, a 
logical head and clear conscience led them to one result 
on the question they had to meet hourly in their lives— 
that of slavery. Most of them did not believe in its 
continuance ; some went further, and emancipated their 
slaves by will ; while others did so during their lives, 
giving them also a start in life, while they could lend 
them a helping hand. Of this latter class was the 
mother of Mrs. Fremont. 

In those days there was a classified, sifted, and solidly 
established order of society. Everybody and everybody's 
family was known; and "pedigree" was a prized quali- 
fication. It has been lately the fashion to laugh at the 
phrase, " a Virginia gentleman," for the title has been 
usurped. Then simplicity of character, good faith, 
honesty of purpose, loyalty to a conviction, a liberal 
hospitality, and a life spent in the honorable discharge 
of duties, were indispensable traits. Thackeray has 
given us George and Henry Esmond as types of the 
best class in Yirginia society. Could he have painted a 



432 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

loveable woman, he might have given the feminine side 
of the character. But Madame Esmond is but the colo- 
nial English woman, losing the calmness that marked the 
caste, through the wear and tear of managing ignorant 
servants and tenantry. The hospitality so often men- 
tioned as one of the traditions, was never ostentatious ; 
there was no imposing by false appearances, and no sud- 
den increase of wealth ; the capital of the residents 
being in land and crops. Thus there was a solid foun- 
dation for prosperity and homely abundance, with a 
frank truthfulness in the mode of life, in beautiful con- 
trast to the often deceptive display in commercial com- 
munities. A temporary show of splendor, at the cost of 
real inconvenience, would have been regarded by the 
staid, honest inhabitants as a kind of forgery, for the 
purposes of an adventurer. Travelers who came eveii 
from the South, in their old-fashioned massive carriages, 
drawn by two or four horses, and attended by mounted 
servants, would stop at any plantation in perfect assu- 
rance of a welcome, with no other introduction than the 
name of a mutual friend. Northern travelers usually 
took the mail-coaches by the day, with relays of horses 
every ten miles, stopping where they pleased. This 
posting was called " taking the accommodation line." 
Richmond was the little London of that provincial 
world, and pleasant circles were there formed to meet 
with accession of gayeties at their Saratoga, the White 
Sulphur Springs. 

Colonel Benton's family was also of English extrac 



MRS. FREMONT. 433 

tion and Virginian birth. His maternal grandfather 
was the younger brother of the Sir William Gooch who 
was deputy governor of Virginia under Lord Dunmore. 
This younger brother died a few months before the elder, 
missing the inheritance of the title and estate in Nor- 
thumberland. His daughter, Anne Gooch, was married 
to Jesse Benton, at the house of her maternal uncle, 
Colonel Hart — the father-in-law of Henry Clay. Her 
son was named for that uncle, who had been her guar- 
dian during her long orphanage. In the early records 
of Kentucky, her husband's name occurs as one of a 
surveying party of sixteen who explored that State. He 
had the tastes and education of a scholar, but the break- 
ing up of the colonial governorship in North Carolina 
changed his plan of life. He was private secretary to 
Governor Tryon, whose chaplain was his intimate friend, 
and his widow's, when she was left at thirty-one with a 
family of eight children, the eldest, Thomas, only eight 
years of age. The great Senator often spoke of this 
friend's taking him by the hand when coming out of the 
church, leading him home through the grove, and read- 
ing aloud from the Greek Testament — translating as he 
read — and telling the boy he must be a classical scholar, 
as his father had been. The boy's course of study was 
planned by him and the mother, who was a woman of 
rare mental endowments and force of character. 

It should be mentioned that the Harts had married 
into the Preston family, one of the largest and wealthiest 
in the State, and so enlarged by marriages into other 

19 



434 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

distinguished families, that the subject of our sk 
finds herself somehow related to half Virginia. In i 
connection by birth and marriage were the families 
the Campbells and Patrick Henry ; of the Marshalls, 
the Randolphs, the Madisons, the Daniels, the Peytons, 
the Floyds, the Breckenridges, the Hamptons, the Car- 
ringtons. Harts, &c. These were all people of large 
property and kindred tastes. It was a custom with 
them to send the eldest son on a four years' tour in 
Europe, accompanied by a clergyman as tutor. 

Henrietta Preston, the sister of William Preston of 
Kentucky, was a favorite cousin of Mrs. Benton's. She 
became the wife of General Albert Sidney Johnston. 
Mrs. Benton's aunt married one of the Madisons. The 
sisters of William C. Preston of South Carolina were 
beautiful women, much admired in society. Margaret, 
the youngest, was the wife of General Wade Hampton. 
Their son, Frank Preston Hampton, was killed in the 
late war. 

Such were the ancestors and relations of Miss Jessie 
Benton, who, passing her early years in the settlement 
described, and familiar with the beautiful scenery sur- 
rounding her birth-place, where four generations of culti- 
vation had spared the time-honored oaks of the primeval 
forest, remembers no rural picture with greater delight. 
At that period, the intermarriages of the Richmond 
families with those of the southern portion of the State, 
had softened the rigid sternness of manners formerly 
prevalent, leaving undistorted the clean lines of right 



MRS. FREMONT. 435 

and wrong, with which no effacing of boundaries was 
allowed. Mr. Benton kept his family in Washington 
every winter. The journey to St. Louis requiring three 
or four weeks, it was only taken at the close of the short 
sessions, when they could spend the time from March to 
November in their Western home. From March to 
May they were sometimes in New Orleans, where Mr. 
Benton had many clients among the old French and 
Spanish landholders. That city was a provincial Paris, 
far removed from the social laws that governed the 
Virginians. Its French language, usages, and costumes, 
its Roman Catholic churches, its Sunday theatres and 
places of amusement, were themes of serious discussion 
and apprehension, on the score of danger to the children, 
among the old-fashioned relatives in "Virginia. The 
changes of moral atmosphere, with the travel to and fro 
through the liberal and growing West, the polished and 
luxurious life of the Crescent City, with the varied 
experiences of Washington, where Europe as well as the 
United States was represented, no doubt contributed to 
enlarge the ideas of the young people, and teach them a 
more liberal judgment than usually belongs to a puritan- 
ical and secluded community. Mrs. Benton's winter 
circles in Washington were composed of the most distin- 
guished persons in the Capital. Chief Justice Marshall, 
Mr. Randolph, Chief Justice Taney, Mr. Mason of North 
Carolina, Mr. Archer, Mr. Yan Buren, all, in fact, who 
were worth knowing, with her own relatives, formed her 
brilliant coteries, which were really as historical as the 



436 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

most famous ones of French princesses. The youthful 
Jessie was often a listener to social and political discus- 
sions, by which unconsciously her opinions were shaped. 
The time-stained journal of her cousin, William C. Pres- 
ton, kept during his tour abroad, and describing his stay 
as a guest at Abbottsford, &c, was eagerly read by her, 
and gave her the first actual impression of Scott's human 
existence. " Ivanhoe " was her first novel. Her studies 
were planned and superintended by her father, and 
aided by the splendid library which had been collected 
by her grandfather Benton. It was well selected, and 
rich not only in Latin, Greek, and English authors, but 
French. Jessie read, her Shakspeare and Sevigne from 
the volumes read in the family in the days of the colo- 
nies. She learned to speak French in infancy from a 
French nurse, Mrs. Benton employing whites after giving 
freedom to her slaves. Her society experiences may be 
said to have commenced in early childhood. She was at 
a ball, with tire-works, given at the Russian Embassy, 
when she was ten years old, having been invited par- 
ticularly because she could speak French and Spanish. 
English was not then generally understood by foreigners 
iu Washington. Her first State dinner party was at the 
Presidential mansion, when she was not quite thirteen ; 
Mr. Van Buren having collected a number of young 
girls and boys to introduce to his son, Smith Van Buren. 
At fifteen, Miss Benton was first bridesmaid to Madame 
Bodisco, a bride only a year her senior, while the bride- 
groom was over sixty. The partners were distributed on 



MRS. FREMONT. 437 

the same plan ; Mr. Buchanan, then Secretary of State, 
being assigned to Miss Benton. This wedding was fol- 
lowed by dinners and balls at all the principal houses in 
Washington, from the White House through, the diplo- 
matic corps. The marriage caused a wide sensation. 
Madame Bodisco became a great favorite with the Em- 
peror Nicholas. 

Miss Benton was married to Mr. John C. Fremont, 
then Second Lieutenant of Engineers, in October, 1841. 
She did not, however, quit the delightful home of her 
family till eight years afterwards, her husband being 
often absent on long and dangerous expeditions. The 
record of Fremont's life and services is part of the 
country's history, and even the share in his labors taken 
by his wife, who was his private secretary and amanuen- 
sis, cannot be here adequately described. She would go 
to meet him at the frontier, in the country of the Dela- 
ware Indians, at the times appointed for his return, 
joining him sometimes in a tent, or a log cabin, and in 
various scenes of Western adventure. Familiar with 
almost every shade and grade of society, she has said 
that she found "as much grace of hospitality, though 
necessarily not of outward show, in a log cabin of the 
prairies, or a farm-house on a California ranche, as in the 
Faubourg Saint Germain, or at a prince's of the Bona- 
parte blood, or in the refined home of an English gentle- 
man." At her dinner-table Delaware chiefs, in courtesy 
and deference to others, have rivaled the high-bred ease 
of men accustomed to the elegant culture of the best 



438 QUEENS OP AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

society. " A Mormon elder of much power and many 
wives " has been her guest, and she has entertained, and 
been entertained, as a friend remarked, " through not 
only the gamut but the chromatic scale of society." 

General Fremont's first expedition to the Rocky 
Mountains terminated in October, 1842. His second, 
beyond that barrier, was accomplished in July, 1813. 
He arrived in the Valley of the Sacramento in May, 
1816. There was imminent danger of the subjection of 
California to British protection, for during two centuries 
England had had her eye on that rich province, and now 
expected to seize it in the Mexican war then approach- 
ins:. At the critical moment, General Fremont snatched 
the possession from the hands of Admiral Seymour, 
already stretched out to clutch it, and conquered the 
country, securing it forever to the United States. The 
result of this service was Mrs. Fremont's first experience 
in the agreeable flatteries of society. The Government 
was pleased at the acquisition of a new territory without 
the cost of a war, and pleased with the man who had 
taken it on his own responsibility. In Washington Mrs. 
Fremont received the tokens of this satisfaction — com- 
plimentary letters, the honored seat at dinners, from the 
President's house through the circle, &c. Then followed 
the quarrel between the land and water forces in Califor- 
nia, which turned the class feeling of the army against 
Fremont, causing animosities and duels ; till he came 
home to be subjected to a trial by court-martial. Re- 
signing his place, he went overland in the winter to 



MRS. FREMONT. 439 

California, where he had invested money in lands that 
now formed a magnificent estate. Mrs. Fremont fol- 
lowed him in March, but was detained seven weeks on 
the Isthmus of Panama by the want of a connecting 
steamer, and suifered severely from her experience of 
the tropics. She was hospitably received and attended 
by the family of General Herran, the minister from New 
Grenada, whom she had known in Washington ; and on 
her return in the following year, when detained a month 
by illness, she was again received by them with the 
same large hospitality. 

The fourth expedition to California was commenced 
in October, 1848. General Fremont wished to prepare 
for the reception of his family. Mrs. Fremont accompa- 
nied him as far as a Government post in Kansas, just 
out of Missouri. She remained here five or six weeks, 
and spent the days at her husband's encampment, her 
lodging being at the liouse of the Indian agent. A vast 
wilderness thence stretched westward, beyond the ad- 
vancing march of civilization. 

In California, in the rough days of 1849, when there 
was gold and nothing else in the land, Mrs. Fremont 
found a new experience. Society had no existence, and 
men were released from all forms and obligations except 
such as individual conscience might impose. Her expe- 
rience confirmed her father's judgment, that there was 
more good than evil in human nature. Especially had 
she reason to be corvinced of that native refinement and 
goodness of American men, which is so continually the 



440 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

subject of astonishment to foreigners traveling in this 
country. 

The residence of Mrs. Fremont in California was at 
Monterey. Gold was not yet abundant, and the fullest 
tide of emigration had not set in. Provisions were 
usually obtained from the Sandwich Islands. Her only 
assistant in domestic labors was an English woman who 
had emigrated from Sidney. The liberal hospitality 
exercised in her house with such limited help excited 
the wonder of the residents. The convention for making 
a constitution for the State of California sat at Monterey, 
and many interests favored the introduction of slavery. 
No servants could be had where labor was so highly 
paid in other branches. The mines could not be worked 
at the tremendous price and uncertainty of labor ; and 
to. the owners it was the difference between vast fortunes, 
and slow and precarious returns for certain and great 
expenditures. There was hesitation in the decision of 
the convention. Mrs. Fremont had the pleasure of being 
assured that the practical evidence of her example con- 
vinced many that home comfort and a liberal and cheer 
ful hospitality were possible without servants. Her 
experience was within the sight and knowledge of those 
voting on the question, and largely aided in the decision 
for freedom in California. 

Mrs. Fremont had her full share in the adventure of 
Western life. At one time, for six weeks she was not 
once in a house — sleeping in a traveling carriage, and 
moving about during the day. "When lumps of gold and 



MRS. FREMONT. 441 

bags of gold-dust were brought down from the moun- 
tains, there was no place for their deposit but under the 
carriage-seat, or in her trunks at Monterey. Some 
Spaniards from Sonora, who were working for General 
Fremont, received half the gold for their labors. Twenty 
of them wished to return to Sonora, and wrote to ask for 
their proportion. Mr. Fremont was at San Francisco, 
and could not conveniently go to Monterey ; but sent an 
Indian with the key of the trunk — three days' journey 
by land — directing the Spaniards to open it, weigh out 
their part of the gold, and send back the key. This was 
clone with perfect accuracy, not an ounce of the gold 
being taken beyond their share. 

The name of General Fremont is enrolled among the 
most eminent explorers and geographers. When he 
returned to the east, it was with his share of the wealth 
of the new State he had first explored, and with political 
power, he having been chosen its first Senator. Of his 
years of trial and triumph, Mrs. Fremont could say, "All 
which I saw, and part of which I was." The negotia- 
tions to w r hich his proprietorship of the Mariposas prop- 
erty gave rise, took him to Europe in the spring of 1852. 
His fame preceded him, and both he and Mrs. Fremont 
had a most flattering reception from men eminent in 
science and letters. They spent a year of unbroken 
content in Paris. At the English Court they were in 
the privileged list, including the diplomatic corps, on 
account of General Fremont's position at hoine, and his 
being one of the medalists of the Royal Geographical 

19* 



412 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Society. The medals are not given for services to gov- 
ernment, but for expeditions conducted at private cost, 
involving sacrifices. For subsequent expeditions, Fre- 
mont received Austrian and Prussian medals and di- 
plomas. 

The death of Mrs. Fremont's only brother shortened 
their stay in London. Among other gratifications, they 
lost that of being present at the last dinner given in 
honor of the birthday of the Duke of Wellington, to 
which they were invited by Miss Coutts. The Duke 
always dined with her that day, selecting his own com- 
pany. His death soon followed this celebration, at 
which some of the royal family were present. 

In Paris, Mrs. Fremont saw the eagles of the Empire 
restored to the flags of the troops at the great review in 
the Champ de Mars, on the 10th of May, 1858. This 
was the era of the Republic headed by a President, and 
few anticipated the restoration of the Empire. She 
witnessed its proclamation, however, on the 2d of Decem- 
ber of the same year ; and admired the brave daring 
with which the new Emperor performed his part. A 
solitary figure passing on horseback through the crowded 
streets — no one within at least forty paces — holding his 
chapeau in his right hand, his breast and throat exposed 
to any deadly ball, his head bared and bending in 
acknowledgment of the popular greeting — his confidence 
in the people could not fail to inspire respect. Mrs. 
Fremont saw the Imperial nuptials, and had tickets for 
reserved places in all the fetes succeeding. The pictu- 



MRS. FREMONT. 443 

resque aspect of the new court interested her, but she 
preferred the genuine royalty of " that dingy St. James." 
Daring the two hours she stood in the throne-room of 
that palace, a gallery of striking portraits was photo- 
graphed on her mind. Nowhere is the beauty of noble 
English women excelled. Its expression of wholesome 
truth and unaffected goodness, with simplicity and dig- 
nity of manner, was most impressive to one who had 
been nurtured in the midst of English ideas, literature, 
and home ways, and saw all at the fountain-head. Near 
Mrs. Fremont stood the Duke of Wellington, with Mr. 
Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and on 
the wall above them hung a large picture of the battle 
of Waterloo ; while at the head of the line of ladies 
belonging to the diplomatic corps stood the Countess 
Walewski, representing France as ambassadress of the 
empire of another Napoleon. The pearls she wore were 
the famous Cis-alpine pearls, which cost poor Josephine 
so dear ; this association, with the wonderful resemblance 
of Count Walewski to his imperial father, added to the 
effect of the historical grouping. 

After their return to America, Mrs. Fremont re- 
mained in Washington while her husband made an 
overland winter journey to California. Then came the 
political campaign of 1856, when General Fremont 
accepted the republican nomination for the Presidency; 
and his wife became severed from her past life, and asso- 
ciations linked to her by birth and education. It was a 
painful sacrifice to feel the alienation of valued friends; 



44 t QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY/. 

but she accepted the trial with regret, sympathizing 
cordially in the plans of her husband, acting as his 
secretary, and aiding him by counsel as well as co-opera- 
tion. 

She was again in Paris in 1857, having had the large 
experiences of a political revolution, which made her 
even a more appreciative listener than before to one of 
her friends — the Count de la Garde, who had lived from 
childhood within court circles — the courts which made 
the history of Europe from the French Revolution to the 
present empire. He was naturally pleased to talk over 
such a life with a listener so deeply interested. He left 
her a collection of souvenirs of the Bonaparte family; 
the central figure Queen Hortense, whom he had known 
longest, their musical taste bringing them into constant 
correspondence. The album is a curious and valuable 
historical relic. It opens with a rare and exquisite min- 
iature on ivory, by Isabey, of the first Napoleon, taken 
in 1804, in the uniform of the Old Guard. It was his 
love-gift to Josephine. The book contains other por- 
traits in water-color, engravings, and lithographs, of 
Josephine, Hortense, the Marquis de Beauharnais, Prince 
Eugene, &c, with autograph letters from these and 
others related to the Bonapartes, original drawings and 
water-color sketches by Hortense, and music composed 
and written out by her. Among her letters is one to the 
Count, illustrating her heart as well as her mind, written 
as it was after such a tremendous reverse of fortune. It 
shows no bitterness or repining — only a certain gentle 



MRS. FREMONT. 445 

philosophy in recognizing society's estimate of a woman 
in power and out of power. I give an extract, printed 
as the original is written : — 

"en arrivant cliez moi, je trouve votre nouvelle romance monsieur 
le Compte, elle est bien jolie, et si je suis deja habituee aux chosea 
aimables de votre part, je n'en suis pas moins etonnee de la promp- 
titude avec laquelle vous faites de si jolis vers. On a an pen change 
ma devise en vous la donnant, moins connue moins trouhlee, est 
celle que j'avais prise depuis bien longtems, elle convient tant a 
nne femme! dans des temps plus brillants des amis y avoient 
ajoute mieux connue mieux aimee o'est qu'ils connoissaient toute 
mon ambition et voulaient me persuader que je possedais ce que 
j'envias le plus, ils ne le pensent peut-etre plus a, present? c'est 
done la premiere devise qui seule peut me convenir. 

******** 
"Augsbourg ce 8 juin 1819. (signed) hortense."* 

General Fremont had made arrangements in Paris 
to reside there with his family for some years ; but the 
scheme was given up when impending war demanded 
his services at home. His California property was sold. 

* Translation. — "On returning home, I find your new song, Mon- 
sieur le Comte. It is very beautiful, and although I am accustomed to 
these graceful acts of yours, I am not the less astonished by the rapidity 
with which you make such lovely verses. My device has been somewhat 
altered by those who gave it to you. ' Less known, less troubled,'' is the one 
I had chosen very long ago — it suits a woman so well! In more brilliant 
times, friends had added, ' Better known, belter loved f this they did, know- 
ing my chief ambition, and wishing to convince me that I possessed what 
I most desired. Perhaps now they no longer think so ; only the first 
therefore can be suitable to me. 

* * * *.* * * * 

•' (Signed) Hortense. 

" Dated Augsbourg, the 8th of June, 1819. Addressed to Monsieur 
lo Comte de la Garde Messeull, at Munich." 



446 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

During the war, the city of St. Louis was for a time the 
home of his family. They now reside in New York. In 
her beautiful country-seat on the Hudson — "Po-ca-ho" 
(the old Indian name), near Tarrytown, Mrs. Fremont 
has found congenial rest. The neighborhood has been 
described in the sketch of Mrs. Beekman. The region 
is associated with recollections of the manorial lords of 
colonial days, of wild adventures during the Revolution- 
ary struggle, of quaint Dutch customs and curious tra- 
ditions, some immortalized by the pen of Washington 
Irving. 

Political life has never been the choice or the ambi- 
tion of Mrs. Fremont; her preference has always been 
to live apart from it. The care and education of her 
children, who received all their instruction at home, 
more agreeably absorbed her attention. The cultivation 
of music was a part of her domestic life ; all her children 
possessing musical talent. Flowers have always been 
her especial delight. A thorough system of reading has 
been pursued by the younger members of the household 
under her direction, and a splendid collection of rare 
books facilitated their studies. The library contains the 
greater part of Humboldt's among its treasures ; with 
his diplomas, the signatures to which comprise the auto- 
graphs of the distinguished literary and scientific men, 
and most of the sovereigns, in the civilized world, who 
have lived within sixty years. All the standard works, 
with others rare and valuable, some filled with annota- 
tions, are included. Mrs. Fremont has been the teacher 



MRS. FREMONT. 447 

of lier daughter, who is accomplished in several modern 
languages, as well as in the other branches of a finished 
education. All these home employments have not been 
incompatible with energetic labors in the cause of 
charity. Mrs. Fremont is one of the active managers of 
the " Nursery and Child's Hospital," and of " The Sol- 
diers' Orphan Home," of which association Mrs. Grant 
is President. She has been an efficient co-worker in the 
management of the " Ladies' Southern Relief Associa- 
tion." At her request to Congress, a ship was granted 
to convey the supplies to Charleston and other South- 
ern ports. In her benevolent efforts, Mrs. Fremont 
obtains sympathy and aid from many with whom she 
has been associated in past years ; for even political 
opponents remember her with respect and esteem. If in 
a railway station she has a moment of recognition and 
greeting from some statesman who has influenced the 
country's destiny, she is in no way surprised to receive 
afterwards a long letter from him referring to past 
events and the actors therein. She might go, with cer- 
tainty of welcome, to homes in every State of the Union, 
and nearly every country in Europe. 

The anxieties and trials — transcending woman's 
strength to bear — endured by Mrs. Fremont in the early 
part of the war, left their record on her luxuriant hair, 
which in a few days changed from glossy brown to 
silvery whiteness. The curious change was so sudden, 
her acquaintances thought she had covered her head 
with powder, and some did not recognize her. The 



448 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

blanched locks do not match her fresh and blooming 
face ; but Mrs. Fremont prefers to wear her gray hair, 
regarding its hue as the sacred scars of a veteran. 

Yery few women in the United States have equaled 
Mrs. Fremont in brilliancy of conversation. Almost at 
all times her talk is sparkling — flashing, it may be said — 
with lively wit and picturesque illustration ; ornament 
as unstudied, withal, as the play of a sunlit fountain. 
Her witticisms are continually repeated in society. It 
is the great charm of her humor and repartee, that they 
are perfectly spontaneous. In this kind of splendor she 
resembles William C. Preston, only her sarcasm is ever 
playful and good-humored. Had she been an orator, she 
would have beguiled " attent ears" with rich eloquence, 
and carried captive the judgment by the vivid force of 
her word-painting. New ideas start up as she speaks 
upon the most ordinary topic, and her fancy gives a fresh 
coloring to all things. She brings the stores of rare 
culture to enrich the lightest social gossip ; but does it 
without effort or even consciousness. Her appearance 
and manner are those usually thought distinctive of an 
English woman, and strikingly like those of her father. 
Her form is rather above the ordinary height, splendidly 
proportioned, and her face is very handsome and full of 
intellectual expression ; always lighted up with the glow 
of a bright spirit and the benevolence of a generous 
heart. 



MRS. HILLS. 449 



XXII. 

Mes. Heney "W. Hills has long been celebrated in 
the society of New York for her rare musical attain- 
ments. She was Margaret Shellman ; her mother, a 
Virginian of Huguenot descent. The daughter was 
born in Savannah, Georgia, where she continued to 
reside for twelve years after her early marriage. Her 
uncommon musical talents were displayed from child- 
hood ; at twelve she began to improvise, and composed 
waltzes, which were printed by her master; and from 
that time it has been her habit to express in music not 
only the emotions of her own heart, but current events 
of public or national interest. The poetess, Lydia Maria 
Child, when a young lady, was invited to hear Mrs. 
Hills play. She had never been able to appreciate 
or enjoy music, and fancied herself deficient in the 
faculty. But the brilliant touch and expression of Mrs. 
Hills awakened in her the sense of melody. In grati- 
tude for the new-born joy, she addressed to the en- 
chantress some impromptu verses, beginning, " Thanks, 
Orpheus, thanks ;" expressive of her feelings. Mrs. 
Osgood wrote these impromptu lines on hearing Mrs. 
Hills' exquisite performance on the piano, in 1841 : — • 



450 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

" Of old the enchanted lyre, 

'Neath Orpheus' touch of fire, 
Could charm, 'tis said, the very hills to joy; 

Could Orpheus come again, 

The HiUs in magic strain 
"Would now in turn bewitch and well reward the boy." 

Mrs. Hills has lived many years in the city of New 
York, where her morning receptions were noted several 
years ago. This mode of entertainment was said to have 
been introduced, among the earliest, by Mrs. Girard, the 
eldest daughter of Governor Sumner, of Boston. The 
letters of Mrs. Hills, published in the Home Journal, 
contained excellent strictures on fashion and dress, and 
were extensively quoted. She described facetiously the 
competition of display among ladies who dressed for each 
other, in rivalry or emulation. But her great " mission " 
was the cultivation of music, and the promotion of a 
taste for the best and highest in the art. jN". P. Willis 
wrote to her, in 1864: "I envy Gottschalk his being 
within reach of your ears and finger ends ; you think 
aloud so deliciously." — " What happiness your harmony 
of soul and fingers might give !" 

Tin visited in early years bj? affliction, and endowed 
with a gift in art which beautified all around her, Mrs. 
Hills' life passed joyously as a bird's. The fount was 
always flowing; every emotion gushed out in music. 
Her improvisation especially breathed airs that expressed 
her feelings. Her Lament for the loss of the Arctic ut- 
tered the very soul of tender sympathy and dolor. Mel- 
ody is, in truth, the voice of her heart. This intense 



MRS. HILLS. 451 

love of the art has had its beneficial effect among her 
acquaintances, and its influence can hardly be measured. 
It pervades Mrs. Hills' life so thoroughly that the ordi- 
nary pleasures of society have scarcely a charm for her, 
separated from the progress of music. She often super- 
intends and directs concerts given in aid of charities. 
Several have been given under her auspices at Dr. 
Ward's private theatre, in New York, which he opens 
for charities every Easter week. 

The daughter of Mrs. Hills, Mrs. John Schermer- 
horn, inherited her talent in music. Gottschalk was 
delighted with her playing of his compositions. Mrs. 
Hills' grand-daughter, Miss Minnie Parker, has not 
only the family gift in instrumental music, but a voice 
of rare sweetness and power. She has achieved brilliant 
triumphs in her singing for charities, and has been 
praised in the highest terms by connoisseurs. 



Miss Hetty Carey, of Baltimore, was said to be the 
most beautiful girl in Virginia or Maryland. For ten 
years she was a reigning belle, especially noted in Rich- 
mond society. She married Major-General Pegram, of 
Richmond. 

Miss Lillie Hitchcock was celebrated in San Fran- 
cisco for brilliant accomplishments and personal graces. 
She would entertain at one time a circle of twenty gen- 
tlemen. She now resides in Paris, having married Mr. 
Thornton. 



/ 



452 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

Mrs. Harvey, the wife of the Governor of Wisconsin, 
labored in hospitals and in aid of soldiers on the field, in 
the Southwest. She afterwards took some " orphans of 
the war" from Yicksburg, and established a Home for 
them in Wisconsin, which is under her superintend- 
ence. 

Another, as benevolent, Margaret Breckenridge, the 
daughter of "the Ajax of orthodox Christianity in the 
Southwest," was educated by her grandfather at Prince- 
ton, and made her home with her brother-in-law, Colonel 
Porter, of Niagara. Her zeal and devotion in the cause 
of humanity took her to the West in 1862, where she 
gave her services to the soldiers in the hospitals. 

Mrs. William Schermerhorn has given entertain- 
ments to the delight of the fashionables of New York. 
She was Miss Cotinet, and was remarkable for beauty 
and grace, and for the elegance of her reunions. She 
gave three of the most splendid receptions in the city in 
the winter of 1867. Her famous " oal costume de rigueur" 
illustrating the reign of Louis XV., was not, as was said, 
the first fancy ball given ; the first, or one of the first, 
was given about 1820, by Mrs. Brugiere, in her house 
near the Bowling Green. To that of Mrs. Schermer- 
horn six hundred guests were invited ; all of whom came 
dressed in the prescribed costume. The dresses, exclu- 
sive of jewelry, were said to have cost between forty and 
fifty thousand dollars ; the jewelry over half a million. 
The servants were dressed in the uniform of the period. 

Mrs. Hamilton Fish, the wife of Governor Fish, who 



THE NEW YORK MANAGER. 453 

was Miss Baker, has also been prominent in New York 
society. 

In New York, Mrs. Auguste Belmont has obtained a 
celebrity for magnificent parties, attended by fashion- 
ables noted for gayety ; and the same may be said of 
many ladies who have as yet no history. 

Every aristocratic fete, every occasion for a fashion- 
able assemblage in New York, has been for some years 
under the management of a person who may now be 
called historical, on that account. It is Brown — the 
portly sexton of Grace Church. Happy, fat, and sleek, 
with easy mien he salutes the belles as they alight, 
amiably conscious that — 

"Where Brown is found, 
To Fashion's eye is hallowed ground." 

The poet chronicler of a midsummer fete given at 
" Woodland Hall," on Manhattan Island, thus apostro- 
phized this manager of entertainments : — 

" Oh, glorious Brown I thou medley strange 
Of churchyard, ball-room, saint and sinner; 

Flying by morn through Fashion's range, 
And burying mortals after dinner! 

Walking one day with invitations — 

Passing the next at consecrations ; 

Tossing the sod at eve on coffins ; 

With one hand drying tears of orphans, 

And one unclasping ball-room carriage, 

Or cutting plum-cake up for marriage : 

Dusting by day the pew and missal; 

Sounding by night the ball-room whistle , 

Admitted free through Fashion's wicket, 

And skilled at psalms, at punch, and cricket." 



451 QUEENS OF AMEKICAN SOCIETY. 

The daughter of Hon. Josiah Quincy remarked: 
Ci Society is now almost entirely engrossed by very young 
people, who are often beautiful, accomplished, and pleas- 
ing ; but there are no queens among them." It would 
scarcely interest the reader to have a mere list of the 
names of the present leaders of fashionable society in 
Boston. Now and then they appear in newspapers as 
patronesses of some State military ball or charity fes- 
tival ; for in Boston, as in New York, public entertain- 
ments are greatly in favor for such purposes. The same 
in other cities. 

It may be seen from the brief history given in the 
foregoing pages, that the ladies most prominent in fash- 
ionable life — from the Republic's early days to the pres- 
ent time — have been noticeable for more than merely 
frivolous distinctions. They have been women of supe- 
rior mind and culture. This intellectual element, with 
the benevolent activity and moral worth of our leaders, 
has given an elevated tone to the best society in New 
York, of which the country may be justly proud. This 
should be remembered when Europeans, or critics among 
ourselves, are disposed to sneer at American fashionable 
life and manners, confounding the really superior clsu s 
with vulgar pretenders unworthy to be named with them. 

At a ball given in Fifth Avenue, in the winter of 
1867, "the German" was danced in the costumes in 
vogue from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. Fif- 
teen hundred invitations were issued. In Washington, 
the same season, many receptions were given at which 



WASHINGTON GAYETIES. 455 

there were a thousand guests. At the White House, 
two separate entrances opened on a double roadway. 
The light from great globes over the portals fell on a 
mass of carriages, among which might be seen the 
"rattletrap" of the Virginia farmer, drawn by one horse 
and driven by an ancient " freedman." The brilliant 
though motley crowd emerging from the dressing-rooms 
met in the open sea of the " East Koom." The Presi- 
dent, in black, clean shaven, stood in his place, the pic- 
ture of the severe respectability of the olden time. Mrs. 
Patterson and Mrs. Storr, who received the guests, were 
simply dressed ; the cost of other dresses might be esti- 
mated by thousands. A prominent belle was the wife 
of the Chilian Minister ; and in artistic array Mrs. 
Sprague bore away the palm. She is slender to fragility, 
with abundant brown hair and beautiful eyes, shadowed 
by long dark lashes. She is the daughter of Secretary 
Salmon P. Chase, and the wife of Senator Sprague, of 
Rhode Island. The wife of Senator Morgan wore the 
most valuable diamonds. 

In the winter of 1867 was introduced in !N"ew York 
the fashion of giving balls at Delmonico's rooms, which 
had long been used by gentlemen for their dinner-parties. 
Balls for the " coming out " of young ladies were given 
there ; the proprietor furnishing attendants, music, flow- 
ers, and supper, at a certain price per guest. There was 
a separate entrance to the rooms thus appropriated, and 
strict seclusion could be had ; but one can hardly give 
the name of hospitality to such entertainments. 



456 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

It is undeniable that changes, and changes not for 
the better, have taken place during the last few years in 
American social life in every quarter of the Union. 
They have been most perceptible in New York and at 
the most popular watering-places ; chiefly Saratoga and 
Newport. There, to be "fast" has been to lead the ton. 
In 1S64 the great feature of the season at Newport, 
among the lively folk thus designated by the grave and 
dignified, was the driving of " four-in-hands." One 
young lady drove a three-in-hand of tiny ponies, that 
looked like playthings. Another "took the wind out of 
all the female sails," by appearing in a " turn-out" with 
four black ponies ; a groom riding a fifth in the rear. 
The Brazilian dames, said to have worn head-dresses 
composed of small gauze balls, each imprisoning a fire- 
fly, were outdone by a New York lady at a fancy ball 
given by her. She personated " Lyrus," wearing on her 
head a wreath of flowers, while over the forehead rose a 
lyre composed of tiny gas-lights, fed from a small reser- 
voir concealed in the dress, and flashing as she moved 
her head. 

Since the condition of things during the war enabled 
men to amass fortunes in an incredibly short time, and 
the discovery of oil in almost worthless lands gave them 
suddenly immense value, the "shoddy" and "petro- 
leum" element has been prominent in circles composed 
of wealthy persons inclined to scatter their money 
profusely for the purpose of display. These leaders of 
gayety flutter in the admiring gaze of the stupid and 



FAST PEOPLE. 457 

ignorant masses, but they are not worthy to be named in 
the same category with those who can boast better claims 
to distinction than merely the possession of money. It 
is not worth our while to treasure the names of ladies of 
this order, who have made themselves conspicuous en- 
tirely by the extravagance of their entertainments, the 
excessive costliness of their dress, or their disregard of 
all feminine discretion. It is very easy to create a sen- 
sation in New York, or any large city. Where there is 
a display of unbounded wealth, such old-fashioned arti- 
cles as morality and good taste are often despised. 
During the season of 1865-66, six hundred balls, more 
or less public, were given in that city, and it was esti- 
mated that seven millions of dollars were spent by the 
ball-goers ; the average cost of a suitable dress being a 
thousand dollars, without jewelry. Frequently ten 
thousand dollars might be seen glittering on one fine 
form ; the cost having increased since diamond dust be- 
came a necessity in a lady's toilet. Of course these 
public balls are not attended generally by fashionable 
people ; but their extravagance shows the tendency in 
popular taste. The wildest stories are extant in current 
gossip about those dames of the gay world. One, who 
is building a splendid house near Central Park, is said 
to get herself up with hasheesh for dissipation. Another, 
overturned in a pony drive, and almost swooning, faintly 
exclaimed, " Take me to my children !" — " She'll have to 
be introduced to them," observed a cynical by-stander. 

jTo rise and reign among the money-worshiping idiots of 
20 



458 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

this kind of fashion in New York — to bold the metropo- 
lis in admiration — it is only necessary to possess millions 
and scatter money lavishly for show. No matter how 
the riches are obtained ; dishonesty, cruelty, repudiation 
of debts, even fraud, provided it comes not under the 
ban of law, are lost in the brightness with which wealth 
covers its possessor. But such worse than vulgar par- 
venues dare not aspire even to admission to the society 
ruled by ladies such as are illustrated in this volume. 
The really excellent will never mingle with them. Their 
day to shine must be short, even among the golden-calf 
idolaters of New York. That city, as well as others, 
may boast her pure-blooded, pure-mannered aristocracy, 
deserving respect as well as admiration, and exercising a 
healthy influence over all grades. 

A few American ladies have become known in Paris 
for great powers of song, and as amateur actresses and 
vocalists have received attention at court and from con- 
noisseurs. Mrs. Hills is pre-eminent in this country in 
instrumental music. Her talent and gift of improvisa- 
tion were inherited from her father, who was highly 
cultivated in the classic school. He directed her musical 
studies in the works of the great German masters, ac- 
companying her on the violin, when playing the sonatas 
of Haydn, Mozart, and other eminent composers. 



MRS. BUTTERFIELD. 450 

Mrs. Henry J. Butterfield, an American lady whose 
beauty, grace and accomplishments not only gave her a 
prominent position in New York as a youthful belle, but 
as a celebrity in the court circles and with the noblesse 
of Paris, should be noticed among those who have added 
lustre to the society of this country. 

She was Miss Mary Roosevelt Burke, daughter of the 
Hon. M. Burke, and niece of Judge Roosevelt, of New 
York. As a young lady, she passed much of her time in 
the family of her uncle, from whose house she was married 
to Mr. Henry J. Butterfield, an English gentleman of 
wealth and position. Soon after her marriage she went 
to Europe, and, finding the society of Paris much to her 
taste, made that city her home. Her personal beauty 
her natural grace, her many accomplishments (being a 
fine linguist), and her exquisite taste in dress, added to 
her husband's wealth and liberality, soon gave her a 
prominent position in the court circles of that brilliant 
capital. She was much noticed by the Emperor and 
Empress, and was always a welcome guest at the private 
parties given at the Tuileries, where her faultless toilette 
was much admired by the Empress Eugenie, herself the 
queen' of taste and fashion. Her house was the resort 
of distinguished foreigners and diplomats, who delighted 
in her society, while her own countrypeople, who had a 
claim to be received, were particularly welcome. 

It was not alone in Paris that Mrs. Butterfield was 
admired. She was presented at the Court of Queen Vic- 
toria, and, amid the galaxy of beauty found at an English 



460 QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 

court drawing-room, attracted much attention. During, 
one of her visits to London, she attended a ball given by 
a fashionable duchess, where her magnificent toilette and 
distingue appearance elicited universal admiration. A 
royal lady who was present was so much charmed with 
her exquisite taste that she sent one of her attendants to 
find out who the beautiful stranger was. On being told 
she was an American lady, she expressed surprise that 
any one but a Parisian could exhibit such a toilette or 
so much grace. 

Mrs. Butterfield was not spoiled by all this adulation. 
She retained, amid all the blandishments of Parisian 
society, the purity, sincerity, and charming simplicity of 
her early life. Elegant, cultivated, and refined, she was 
a true-hearted woman, loving her country and its institu- 
tions, loyal to her flag at all times and under all circum- 
stances, and doing all in her power to make the name of 
America honored and respected abroad. 

She was a faithful and affectionate wife and mother, 
a devoted daughter, a true Christian, loving and kind to 
all connected with her. Her death was mourned by 
many friends in the brilliant circle she adorned, while 
to her husband and relatives her loss was irreparable. 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



PAGE 

Adams, Abigail 103 

Adams, Mrs. John Quincy 109 

Adams, Miss (Mrs. Smith) 106 

Letters, 63, 75, 13S, &c. 

Acklen, Mrs 417 

Alexander, Lady Catherine 44 

Allen, Mrs 211 

Allen, Miss 93 

Ambler Family 19 

Bal, Senora del 356 

Barney, Miss 273 

Barton, Mrs. Thomas 275 

Beekman, Mrs 171 

Belmont, Mrs. Auguste 453 

Benton, Miss Jessie 484 

Benton, Mrs. Thomas H 435 

Bingham, Mrs 137 

Bingham, the Misses 147 

Bledsoe, Sarah 195 

Bodisco, Madame 436 

Bonaparte, Madame 165 

Bradford, Mrs 34 

Breckenridge, Mrs. Robert 297 

Breckenridge, Margaret 452 

Brehau, Marchioness de < . . . 2S, 106 

Brewton, Mrs 184 

Brown - , Mrs. A. G 838 

Brown, Mrs. A. V 339 

Brown, Mrs. Jacob 226 

Brugiere, Mrs 452 

Bruyn, Blandina 160 

Bullitt, Miss Louisa 426 

Burns. Mareia (Mrs. Tan Ness) 26t 

Butt. Miss, of Norfolk 273 

Butterfield, Mrs. H. J 459 



PAGB 

Cabell, Mrs 823 

Caldwell, Mi ss (Mrs. Gillam) 191 

Calhoun, Mrs. Andrew 839 

Calhoun, Mrs. John C 191 

Calhoun, Mrs 191 

Carey, Miss Hetty 451 

CarneaL Miss Sallie 426 

Carrington, Mrs. Edward 19 

Carroll Family 85 

Carroll, Mrs. Charles 85 

Cass, Miss 285 

Caton, Mrs. 36 

Caton, the Misses 36 

Chestnut, Mrs. James 340 

Chew, the Misses 35 

Clay, Mrs. Clement 340 

Clay, Mrs. Henry 22T 

Clinton, Mrs % 106 

Clinton, the Misses 91 

Clinton, Cornelia 91 

Combs, Mrs 203 

Costar, Mrs. John 308 

Cranch, Mrs 105 

Crittenden, Mrs. J. J 327 

Crittenden, Miss 841 

Cushing, Mrs 93 

Custis, Eleanor Parke 257 

Custis Family 20 

Custis, Mrs. Mary 260 

Ccitts, Mrs 126 

Dahlgren, Miss 839 

Davis, Mrs 340 

De Lancey Family 193 

De Peyster Family 175 



462 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



PAGE 

Derby, Mrs. Eichard 324 

Douglas, Mrs 340 

Dubois, Mrs. Cornelius 359 

Duer, Lady Catherine 10S 

Duval, Mrs 340 

Ellery,Miss 91 

Elliott, Anne 190 

Elliott, Mrs. Barnard 187 

Elliott, Mrs. William 188 

Elmendorf, Mrs 160 

Emmet, Mrs. Thomas Addis 358, 362 

Fairfax Family 19 

Faugeres, Margaretta 39 

Fendall, Miss 336 

Field, Mrs. Benjamin H ITS 

Field, Mrs. Hickson 309 

Field, Mrs. Hickson \V 808 

Fish, Mrs. Hamilton 452 

Fisher, Mrs. J. F 227 

Fitzhugh Family 17 

Floyd, Mrs 297 

Foster, Miss Sally (Mrs. Otis) 33 

Frankland, Lady Agnes 15 

Franklin, Sarah (Mrs. Bache) 153 

Franks, Bebecca (Lady Johnston).... 156 
Fremont, Mrs 428 

Gaines, Mrs. Myra Clark 341 

Gaston, Mrs 192 

Gates, Mrs 174 

Genet, Madame 91 

Gibbes, Mrs 1S6 

Gilpin, Mrs. Henry D 376 

Giiard, Mrs 450 

Graeme, Elizabeth (Mrs. Ferguson) . . 152 

Graydon, Mrs 3S 

Greene, Mrs. Nathanael 131 

Haight,Mrs 30S 

Haley, Mrs 89 

Hamilton, Mrs. Alexander 163 

Hampton, Miss 296 

Hampton, Mrs. Wade 434 

Hancock, Mrs. John 114 

Hart, Miss Susan 195 

Harvey, Mrs 452 

Harvey, the Misses 1S2 

Hayes, Mrs 417 



PAGE 

Heald, Mrs 209 

Helm, Mrs 210 

Hills, Mrs. Henry W 449 

Hitchcock, Miss Lillie 451 

Hunt, Mrs. Bailie Ward 235 

Huntington, Mrs 223 

Innis, Mrs. Henry 203 

Izard, Mrs. Ralph 192 

Jackson, Mrs. Andrew 276 

Jay Family 85 

Jay, Mrs. John 44 

Jefferson, Martha 88 

Jefferson, Mrs. Thomas 37 

Jeykell, Mrs 14 

Johnson, Mrs. Eeverdy 340 

Johnston, Mrs 231 

Johnston, Mrs. Albert Sidney 434 

Jones, Mrs. Wilie 192 

Jones, Mrs. William 308 

Kenton, Mrs 204 

King, Mrs. Bufus 159 

Kinzie, Mrs 210 

Knox, Mrs 96 

La Fayette, Madame de 61, &c. 

Lane, Miss Harriet 835 

Leavenworth, Mrs 310 

Le Vert, Madame Octavia Walton. . . . 396 

Le Vert, Miss Octavia 408 

Livingston, Miss Cora 274 

Livingston, Mrs. Edward 273 

Livingston Family 41 

Livingston, Governor, Daughters of . . 43 
Livingston, Miss Kitty — Letters. . .50, &c. 

Livingston, Miss Susan 43 

Long, Mrs. Nicholas 192 

Low, Mrs. 93 

Macgregor, Mrs 373 

Mack, Mrs. John 355 

Macubbin, Mrs. James 22 

Madison, Mrs 238 

Marbois, Madame de 109 

Marshall, Emily 824 

Marshall, Mrs 266 

Mason, Miss Emily 422 

McDowell, Mrs. James 296 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



463 



PAGE 

McEvers, Eliza (Mrs. John E. Living- 
ston) 274 

McEvers, Mary 31, 274 

McKinley, Mrs 328 

McLane, Mrs. Louis 272 

McLean, Mrs 036 

Merrick, Mrs. 298 

Montgomery, Mrs 24 

Morgan, Mrs 455 

Morgan, Eliza 336 

Morris, Mrs. Lewis 189 

Morris, Mrs. Robert 26, 31, 52, 147, &c. 

Motte, Mrs 186 



Nelson, Mrs. 



'20 



• Ogden, Miss 10S 

Otis, Mrs 33 

Otis, Mrs. Harrison Gray 311 

Ouseley, Lady 292 

. Page, Mrs 20 

Parish, Mrs. Henry 30S 

Parker, Miss Minnie 451 

Patterson, Mrs. Kobert 36 

Payne, the Misses 239, 240 

Peabody, Mrs 105 

Pendleton, Mrs 308 

Peters, Mrs 160 

Phelps, Mrs. Lincoln 426 

Phelps, Paulina 182, 185 

Philipse, Mary 14 

Pleasants, Mrs 226 

Polk, Mrs. James K 213 

Preble, Miss Harriet 825 

Prescott, Mrs. "William II 325 

Preston Family 296 

Preston, Mrs. "William 207 

Preston, Mrs. "William C 29S 

Pringle, Mrs 340 

Quincy Family 113 

Quincy, Miss (Mrs. Asa Clapp) 272 

Randolph, Edmonia 296 

Randolph, Mrs 33 

Reed, Mrs 17 

Redfield, Mrs 809 

Renwiek, Mrs 302 

Ritchie, Mrs. Montgomery >. , . 890 



PAGE 

Rivington, Mrs 182 

Robertson, Mrs 204 

Robinson, Mrs 14 

Roosevelt, Mrs. J. J 281 

Roosevelt, Miss 292 

Ross, Miss 34 

Roupell, Mary 182, 186 

Rush, Mrs. James 3C3 

Sanders, Miss 33S 

Schaumburg, Miss Ernilie 892 

Schermerhorn, Mrs. John 451 

Schermerhorn, Mrs. "William 452 

Schuyler, Catalina 15 

Schuyler, Mrs. Philip 162 

Scott, Miss Helen 427 

Scott, Mrs. "Winfleld 295 

Sears, Miss 108 

Sedgwick, Mrs. Theodore 93 

Sevier, Mrs 197 

Sevier, Ruth 202 

Seymour, Julia 35 

Shaw, Mrs 105 

Sheaffe, the Misses Wi- 

Shippen, Margaret (Mrs. Arnold) 154 

Sibley, Mrs 209 

Singleton, Mrs 133 

Sitgreaves, Mrs 261 

Slidell, Mrs 336 

Smith, the Misses 107 

Sprague, Mrs 455 

Stannard, Mrs. Robert 420 

St. Clair, Miss 206 

Stevens, Mrs. John C 307 

Stewart, Mrs 33 

Stirling, Lady 44 

Stockton, Mrs. Richard 159 

Strangford, Lady 55 

Talbot, Mrs 206 

Temple, Elizabeth 87 

Temple, Lady SS 

Thompson, Sarah (Countess Rumtord) 133 

Trask, Miss 212 

Tryon, Lady 191 

Van Cortlandt Family 171 

Van Home Ladies 155 

Van Ness, Mrs 264 

Van Ness, Ann Elbertina (Mrs. Arthur 
Middleton) 267, 268 



464 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



Van Ness, Miss Cornelia 282 

Van Ness, Mrs. C. P ' 031 

Van Rensselaer, Mrs 174 

Vining, Miss 253 

Von Berckel, Miss 108 



Waddell, Mrs. Coventry 

Wadsworth, Mrs. James S 

Wads worth, Miss Elizabeth 

Wake, Esther 

Wallace, Mrs. E. F 

Wallace, Mrs. John Bradford 

Wallace Mrs. Mary Biuney 

Wallace, Mrs. Susan 

Walworth, Mrs 

Ward, Miss Lillie 

Ward, Mrs. Robert J [ 

Ward, Miss Sallie [][[ 

Washington, Mrs 17, 21, 28, 31 

Washington, Mrs. (Jane Elliott)...'...' 



3S2 
390 
391 
191 
324 
263 
263 
203 
208 
236 
228 
228 

etc 

189 



Webster, Mrs. Daniel 3T4 

Wheate, Lady ^ ' ' 1(1< j 

White, the Misses 39 

White, Mrs. Florida " 225, 

White, Mrs. James W 342 

Wickham, Mrs 4 o 2 

Wickham, the Misses 4.32 

Wickliffe, Margaret [[[ o'jf 

Willing Family j g ^ 

Wilson, Mrs igT 

Winthrop, Mrs gg ; 

Win throp, Hannah 95 

Wolcott, Mrs ' 85 ' 

Wolcott, Miss Mary Ann 35 

Woodbury, Mrs. Levi 272 / 

Wooley, Mrs 297 J 

Wooster, Mrs 132 

Wortley, Lady Emmeline Stuart 404 

Yrujo, de Casa. Marchioness.. .37, 2S3, 286 



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